290 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 2S 



The deer gods li;id more sons and daugliters ; but there came a flood in 

 which many of these perislied. After the catastrophe was over the god who 

 is called the " creator of all things " formed the heavens and the earth and 

 restored the human race. 



Thus we have here the primal pair of gods and the- actual creator 

 god who procured for men light and the other conditions of human 

 existence by means of his endeavors and self-castigation. The 

 former, since they were designated as '" deer god " and " deer god- 

 dess '*, were probably also considered as the father and the mother 

 of animals, like the Pitoo-Cozaana of the Zapotecs. The latter, the 

 real practical creative god, has, as among the Zapotecs, an mimis- 

 takable connection with Quetzalcoatl, since the two names given 

 here are coml)ined with the determinative word " wind " ; but this 

 practical creative god is here conceived of as twin brothers. The 

 names '' 9 snake "' and " 1) cave " appear to have been intended to 

 mean the light and the dark brother. The second name is inter- 

 esting because the word " cave " evidently forms the connecting idea 

 between the IMexican Calli, " house ", and the Maya and Zapotec 

 Akbal and Ela, '' night '', the names of the third day sign, which 

 apparently differ so very much from one another. Moreover, a dual 

 nature is also indicated in Quetzalcoatl, since the name, as Ave know, 

 can l)e translated '' decorative feather snake "' as well as '' the precious 

 twin ". Xolotl appears in the calendar pictures as the twin brother 

 of Quetzalcoatl. He is the sinister god of monstrosities, who wears 

 the eca-ilacatz-cozquitl, the spirally-twisted wind ornament (cut 

 from a snail shell), and the ear pendants made from the shell of the 

 Avhelk. and also the head ornament of Quetzalcoatl. 



The primal pair of gods, as I have already mentioned, occupy the 

 first place in the calendars of the picture writings, as rulers of the 

 first section. In conformity with the peculiar position which Quetzal- 

 coatl occupies in relation to the primal pair of gods and as the 

 creator of the world and man, he follows the primal gods, coming 

 second, as the ruler of the second division of the calendar. In the 

 third place, as ruler of the section beginning with the day '' 1 deer ", 

 there then follows a god in the form of a jaguar, who sits above 

 a mountain cave, before him the sign of war (shield, bundle of 

 javelins, and spiked club), food (a vessel with maize and a pulque 

 jar), and a costly neck ornament, and opposite liim, in some manu- 

 scripts (Codices Telleriano-Remensis and Yaticanus A), Quetzalco- 

 atl, and in others (Codices Borgia, page 52, and Yaticanus B, page 

 46) ,the earth goddess Tlazolteotl or Tlaelquaui, who apparently bring; 

 n bound captive to him for sacrifice (see figure (If, which is co])ied from 

 the Borgian codex, page 52). There, where in the series of gods of 

 the day signs this god would be expected to be with his female com- 



