184 



DISCOVERY 



Acosta states that Tczcatlipoca's idol was made of 

 obsidian, and he is represented in one of the manu- 

 scripts as wearing obsidian sandals (footgear often 

 indicates the nature of a person or deity in Mexican 

 heiroglyphic painting). He was certainly the god of 

 the sacred obsidian knife of sacrifice, and he is oc- 

 casionally symbolised by that implement, which some- 

 times takes the place of one of his feet. I believe, 

 too, that the net-like garment worn by this god above 

 his other attire is a development of the mesh-bag in 

 which Mexican hunters carried flints for use as spear- 

 and arrow-heads. 



But there is a much stronger connection between 

 Tezcatlipoca and the obsidian stone. From this mineral 

 mirrors were cut and polished, not only for the ordinary 

 purposes of the toilet, but for the use among wizards 

 and sorcerers as aids to divination. Into the depths 

 of these the wizard peered to read the riddles of the 

 future, just as the modern crystal-gazer " scries " in 

 her polished globe. One variety of this stone was called 

 tepochtli, or " wizard-stone," from which, it seems to 

 me, by a process of etymological confusion, Tezcatlipoca 

 may have received one of his minor names, Telpochtli, 

 " the Youth." Acosta and other writers tell us that 

 this god was represented with a magical mirror called 

 tlachioloni, " his glass to look in," in which he was 

 able to witness the deeds of all mankind, precisely 

 Jis the priests were supposed to do. 



Tezcatlipoca is frequently referred to as "a 

 shadow," " a ghost," and this aspect of him, I believe, 

 refers to the misty shapes seen by the sorcerer in the 

 magic glass. Thus, from the shape beheld in the seer's 

 mirror, Tezcatlipoca came to be regarded as the seer 

 himself. The wizard-stone became personalised and 

 developed into a god, and its reflections became his 

 attributes. 



But Tezcatlipoca as the obsidian also came to be 

 thought of as one of those magical stones by the 

 agency of which great wind-storms can be raised, 

 and of which there are numerous examples in all 

 mythologies. He has been identified with the Central 

 American god Hurakan, from whose name we get 

 the word " hurricane." He was therefore thought of 

 as a god of wind. But it was chiefly through the fear 

 inspired by his magical prowess that he came to be 

 regarded as chief deity of the Mexican pantheon. His 

 name, " Smoking Mirror," arose, I tliink, from the 

 cloudy appearance which obscures the surface of a 

 scrying-glass when one has gazed into it for some 

 time. 



The god Quetzalcoatl, regarding whose significance 

 there have been many striking differences of opinion, 

 has at one time or another been identified with the 

 wind, the sun, the moon, the planet \Vnus, and the 

 apostle St. Thomas ! His myth, of which there is 



an embarrassing number of variants, tells of his arrival 

 in one part or another of Mexico or Central America, 

 where he laboured to civilise the people and to intro- 

 duce the arts of agriculture and settled existence, 

 founding the culture known as the Toltec, which 

 flourished at Tollan. His mission accomplished, he 

 was driven from the country by the " magician " 

 Tezcatlipoca. 



In my view, the physical phenomena which occur 

 in connection with the courses of the winds typical 

 of the Mexican plateau provide by far the most simple 

 and natural explanation of the nature of the god 

 Quetzalcoatl. From April or May to the beginning 

 of October the trade-wind blows in a north-easterly 

 direction from the coast over the plateau, bringing 

 with it abundance of rain and accelerating vegetable 

 growth. At the end of that period, however, it is 

 invariably modified by the local monsoon, which 

 interrupts it over wide areas, or in certain districts 



THE GOD QLETZ.\I.CO.\TL. 



From Uic authors The CUtUsalion of A ncieni Mexico, by kind pcnnission of Uie 



Cambridge Viiiversity Press. 



invades it in violent cyclonic storms, dissipating its 

 energies and altering its course from north-east to 

 south-west. Quetzalcoatl resembles the gentle trade- 

 wind which ushers in the growth-making rains. His 

 reign of peace, plenty, and fertility over, he comes into 

 opposition with TezcatUpoca, who represents the 

 monsoon, and who chases his rival from " city to city, 

 ravening at him like a tiger (says Mendieta), and at 

 last hustling him out of the country. This attempt 

 at elucidation refers, of course, to what seems to be 

 the earliest form of his myth. Its later forms are 

 surprisingly complex, but are all capable of being 

 referred back to the original nature-stor\-. The 

 etymology of his name, too, which is usually translated 

 " Feathered Serpent," seems to me to indicate the 



