294 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bttll. 2S 



Benito, the vicar of Tehuantepec seized all these ornaments, an inven- 

 tory A\ as taken, and by order of the viceroy the j^roceeds of the sale of 

 these objects were emi^loyed for the benefit. of the church. 



It is certain that the expressions mentioned here, " Corazon del 

 Pueblo "' and " Corazon del Reyno " are only translations of the name 

 Tepeyollotl, for tepetl means in Mexican not merely " mountain ", 

 but also '' place " ; tepe-pan, " in the place ", " in the country " ; cecen 

 tepepan is translated in Molina's dictionary l)y " in every town " (en 

 cada pueblo 6 ciudad). The Mixtec translation of the name Tepe- 

 yollotl would probably have been Jni-nuu; and the Zapotec, Lachi- 

 Gueche. However, no deities of any such names are mentioned. 

 According to the passage last quoted it may nevertheless be assumed 

 with certainty that this god. Corazon del Reyno, Avas a deity of the 

 earth and that earthquakes were asci'il)ed to him. It is therefore 

 probable that he is identical with the god who is mentioned in the 

 dictionary of Father Juan de Cordova as Pitao-Xoo, '' god of earth- 

 quakes " (dios de los temblores de tierra). 



Moreover, the Iviiowledge and the worship of this god was not con- 

 fined to the Mixtec or Zapotec races, but existed, perhaps more exten- 

 sively, among the Maj^a tribes bordering on the south, the Zotzils and 

 the Tzentals, for there is no doubt that the often-mentioned god 

 Votan of the Tzentals is identical with Tepeyollotl, hence with 

 the Zajjotec Pitao-Xoo. This aj)pears from the etymology of the 

 name, Avhich, it seems, means in Tzental, simply, " heart '', '" breast 'V 

 This is furthermore expressly mentioned by Bishop Nunez de la Vega, 

 who states at the conclusion of the paragraph referred to that this 

 god was called in some provinces Corazon de los Pueblos; and, finally, 

 this is proved by the fact that this Votan is also the ruler of the third 

 day sign. The third day sign, that is, the sign which the Mexicans 

 call Calli, *' house '", and the other Maya races generally call Akbal, 

 '• night ", by the Tzentals is simply called Votan, after the god him- 

 self. I quote here the statement which Bishop Nunez de la Vega 

 makes concerning this deity, because it serves to complete the picture 

 in some particulars. The bishop writes :^ 



Yotan is the third beatlien iii the calendar [that is, the deity who is ascribed to 

 the third division of the calendar], and in the littie history written in the Indian 

 language all the provinces and cities in which he tarried were mentioned ; and to 

 this day there is always a clan in the city of Teopisa that they call the Votans. 

 It is also said that he is the lord of the hollow wooden instrument which they call 

 tejtanaguaste [that is, the Mexican tepouaztli] ; that he saw the great wall, 

 namely, the tower of Babtl, which was built from earth to heaven at the bidding 



« Brinton has proved this in lis book Hero Myths, p. 217. In a copy of bilingual 

 directions for administering the sacrament, of the year 1707, which is in Brintou's 

 possession, the following passage occurs : Ta zpizil auotan, " con todo iu corazon (witli 

 all thy heart)"; xatigh xny auotan, " hirrendote en los pechos (wounding thee in the 

 bosom)"; zghoyoc alagh ghoyoc, " di conmigo (spealc with me)". 



^ Nunez de la Vega, Constituciones Diocesanas I'reamlnilo, no. 34, sec. ."50. 



