^9 



Brinton.] ^-^ [Jan. 15, 



Nor is it certain why their country was referred to by the Aztecs 

 as "The Land of the Gods." It seems likely that it was on 

 account of the numerous temples that existed there, and the unusu- 

 ally devotional character of the natives. The remains of these 

 ancient religious structures and of the artificial mounds which sup- 

 ported them still bear witness to this, and two of their villages yet 

 bear the names San Antonio de los Cues and San Juan de los Cues, 

 the term cues (a Haytian word) being applied by the Spaniards to 

 artificial mounds. The former is situated in the valley of the Rio 

 Salado ; the latter in an adjacent valley. Unfortunately, no 

 archaeological exploration of them has been reported.* 



Their religious character is also referred to by the early Spanish 

 writers. Sahagun describes them as performing remarkable tricks 

 at certain festivals, such as swallowing live snakes and frogs. f 

 Mendieta speaks of their rigid fasts and abstinence from marital 

 relations for fifteen days after the nuptials. The historian Herrera 

 gives the following description of some of their rites : 



"In the Province of Teutitlan, where the Mazatec language is 

 spoken, which adjoined that of the Mistecs, they were accustomed 

 to flay the sacrificial victims, and carried the skins to the neigh- 

 boring villages, asking alms. On the day of a certain important 

 festival, which took place annually, the priests ascended the temple 

 and struck a war drum. At this signal all the Indians who were in 

 the fields had to run to their houses and their town. Then those 

 who had carried the skins of the victims sallied forth and ran about 

 the country till midday, and whenever they caught a person they 

 cut his hair so as to form a sort of crown around his head, and such 

 persons were destined to be sacrificed within one year." % 



According to Aztec mythology — which is very rarely to be 

 regarded as historical — the natives of Teutitlan were descended from 

 Xelhua, the oldest of the six sons of Iztac Mixcohuatl and his wife, 

 Ilancuey, the venerable pair who dwelt in and ruled the mysterious 

 northern Land of the Seven Caves, called in Nahuatl Chicomoztoc.§ 



* Another Teotitlan—" Teotitlan del Valle"— is found in Oaxaca. It was so called 

 from the temple of a famous divinity, which was erected on the summit of a high rock 

 near by. This was the goal of numerous pilgrims, and, according to Seiior J. B. Car- 

 riedo, "fu6uno de los sautuarios de mas estima y de mas uombre en la geutilidad." 

 Estudios Ilistoricos eld Eslado Oaxaqueno. Tom. i, pp. 15, 16. 



fHistoria de Nncva Espafia. Lib. ii, Apendice. 



X Historia delas Indias Occidentales, Dec. iii. Lib. iii, cap. 15. 



I Mendieta, Historia EcksiasUca Indiana, Lib. ii, cap. 33. 



