1887.] ■^»^* [Brinton. 



Hill Coatepetl becomes the Aztec Ol^-mpus. On it dwells the 

 great goddess " Our Mother amid the Serpents,"' Coallan Tonan* 

 otherwise called " The Serpent-skirted," Coatlicue, with her 

 children, The Myriad Sages, the Gentzon HuitznaJiua.f It was 

 her dut}' to sweep the Snake-Hill every day that it might be 

 kept clean for hei- children. One da}- while thus engaged, a 

 little bunch of feathers fell upon her, and she hid it under her 

 robe. It Avas the descent of the spirit, the divine Annunciation. 

 When the Myriad Sages saw that their mother was pregnant, 

 they were enraged, and set about to kill her. But the unborn 

 babe spake from her womb, and provided for her safety, until 

 in due time he came forth armed with a blue javelin, his flesh 

 painted blue, and with a blue shield. His left leg was thin and 

 covered with the plumage of the humming-bird. Hence the 

 name was given to him " On the left, a Humming-Bird," Huitzi- 

 lopochtli.| Four times around the Serpent-Mountain did he 

 drive the Myriad Sages, until nearl}- all had fallen dead before 

 his dart, and the remainder fled far to the south. Then all the 

 Mexica chose Huitzilopochtli for their god, and paid honors to 

 the Serpent-Hill by Tula as his birthplace. § 



* Coatlan, to-nan, from coatl, serpent ; tla7i, among ; to-nan, our mother. She was the 

 goddess of flowers, and the florists paid her especial devotion (Sahagun, Historia, Lib. ii, 

 cap. 22). A precinct of the city of Mexico was named after her, and also one of the 

 edifices in the great temple of the city. Here captives were sacrificed to her and to the 

 Iluitznahua. (Ibid., Lib. ii, Appendi.x:. See also Torquemada, Mvnarquia Indiana, Lib. 

 X, cap. 12.) 



t Ccntzon Huilznahua, "the Four Hundred Diviners with Thorns." Four hundred, how- 

 ever, in Naliuatl means any indeterminate large niunber, and hence is properly trans- 

 lated myriad, legion. Kahuatl means wise, sliillful, a diviner, but is also the proper name 

 of the Naliuatl-speakiug tribes ; and as the Nahuas derived their word for soutli from 

 hui-Jli, a thorn, the Iluitznahua may mean "the southern Naliuas." Suhagun had this 

 in his mind when he said the Iluitznaliua were goddesses who dwelt in tlie south (iZt.s- 

 toria dc Nutva E'-pana, Lib. vii, cap. 5). The word is talcen by Father Duran jis tlie 

 proper name of an individual, as we sliall see in a later note. 



X HuitzilopocfUU, from huii-ilhi, hiunmiug-bird, opuchtU, the left side or hand. Tliis is 

 the usual derivation ; but I am quite sure that it is an error arising from the ikonomatic 

 representation of the name. The name of liis Ijrother, Huitznahua, indicates strongly 

 that the preflx of both names is identical. This, I doubt not, is from huitz-tlan, the 

 south ; ilo is from iloa, to turn ; tliis gives us the meaning " the left liand turned toward 

 the south." Orozco y Berra has pointed out that the Mexica regarded left-handed 

 warriors as tlic more formidaljle {Historia Anlir;ua de Mexico, Tom. i, p. 125). Along with 

 this let it be remembered that the legend states tliat Huitzilopochtli was bom in Tula 

 and insisted on leading tlio Mexica toward the south, the oppositi(jn to which by his 

 brotlier led to the msissacre and to the destruction of the town. 



g This myth is recorded by Saliagun, Historia de Nticva Expana, Lib. iii, cap. 1, "on the 

 Origin of tlie Gods." It is i)reserved with some curious variations in tlie Historia dc los 

 Mcxicanos pur sas rinluras, cap. 11. AVhen the gods created the suu they also formed 



