Brinton.] ^" [Jan. 5, 



holy places and sacred objects of the nagualists, they were in- 

 caves or deep rock-recesses, not in artificial structures. The 

 myths they gleaned, and the names of the gods they heard, also 

 point to this as a distinguishing peculiarity. An early instance 

 is recorded among the Nahuas of Mexico. In 153T Father 

 Perea discovered a cavern in a deep ravine at Chalma,near Mal- 

 linalco (a town famous for its magicians), which was the sanc- 

 tuary of the deity called Oztoteotl, the Cave God (oztotl, cave ; 

 teotl, god), " veiTerated throughout the whole empire of Monte- 

 zuma."* He destroyed the image of the god, and converted 

 the cavern into a chapel. 



We cannot err in regarding Oztoteotl as merely another name 

 of the Nahuatl divinity, Tepeyollotl,the Heart, or Inside, of the 

 Mountain, who in the Codex Borgia and the Codex Vaticanus 

 is represented seated upon or in a cavern. His name may equally 

 well be translated " the Heart of the Place," or " of the Town," 



Dr. Eduard Seler has shown beyond reasonable question that 

 this divinit}' did not originall}' belong to the Aztec Pantheon, 

 but was introduced from the South, either from the Zapotecs, 

 the Mixtecs, or the Mayan tribes, beyond these.f The Cave 

 God of the Aztecs is identical with the Votan of the Tzentals of 

 Chiapas, and with the U-q'ux XJleuh of the Quiches of Guate- 

 mala, and probably with the Cozaana of the Zapotecs. 



The rites of all of these were conducted in caverns, and there 

 have been preserved several interesting descriptions of the con- 

 tents of these sacred places. That relating to the " dark house 

 of Votan " is given thus in the work of the Bishop of Chiapas : 



" Votan is tlie third liero who is named in the calendar, and some of 

 his descendants still reside in the townof Teopisca, where they are known 

 as Volans. He is sometimes referred to as Lord of the Sacred Drum, and 

 lie is said to have seen the great wail (which must have been the Tower 

 of Babel), and to have divided this laud among the Indians, and given to 

 each tribe its language. 



* " Que era venerado en todo elimperiode Montezuma." See Diccionario Universal, Ap- 

 pendico, s. v. (Mexico, 1S5G). 



t " Dass der Gott TopeyoUotl im Zapotekenlande und weiter siidwarts seine Wurzeln 

 hat, uud dem eigenUiclien Aztekischen Olymp I'remd ist, dariiber kann kein ZweifVl 

 mehr obwuUen." See Dr. Seler's able discussion of tlie subject in the Comptc-licndu of 

 the Seventh International Congress of Americanists, p. 559, . sci?. The adoption of 

 subterranean temples was peculiarly a Zapotecan trait. " Notandose principulniente en 

 muchos adoratorios de los Zapotecos, estan los mas de ellos cubiertos, o en subterraneos 

 espaciosos y lobregos." Carriedo, Estudios Hisloricos, Tom. i, p. 26. 



