Brinton.] ^"^ [Jan- 5, 



oldest of gods, Huehueteotl, and also " Our Father," Tota, as it 

 was believed from him all things were derived.* Both among 

 them and the Mayas, as I have pointed out in a previous work, 

 he was supposed to govern the generative proclivities and the 

 sexual relations, f Another of his names was XiuhtecuUi, which 

 can be translated " God of the Green Leaf," that is, of vegetable 

 fecundity and productiveness.! 



To transform themselves into a globe or ball of fire was, as we 

 have seen (ante, p. 29), a power claimed by expert nagualists, 

 and to handle it with impunity, or to blow it from the mouth, was 

 one of their commonest exhibitions. Nothing so much proved 

 their superiority as thus to master this potent element. 



30. The same name above referred to, " the Heart of the 

 Town," or " of the Hills," was that which at a comparatively 

 late date was apj^lied to an idol of green stone preserved with 

 religious care in a cavern in the Cerro de Monopostiac, not far 

 from San Francisco del Mar. The spot is still believed by the 

 natives to be enchanted ground and protected by superhuman 

 powers. § 



These green stones, called chalchiuitl, of jadeite, nephrite, 

 green quartz, or the like, were accounted of peculiar religious 

 significance throughout southern Mexico, and probably to this 

 day many are preserved among the indigenous population as 

 amulets and charms. They were often carved into images, either 

 in human form or representing a frog, the latter apparently the 

 symbol of the waters and of fertilit3\ Bartholome de Alva re- 

 fers to them in a passage of his Confessionary. The priest asks 

 the penitent: 



"Dost thou possess at this very time little idols of green stone, or 

 frogs made of it (in chalchiich coeoneme, chalchiuh tamazoltin.) ? 



"Dost thou put them out in tlie sun to be warmed? Dost thou keep 

 them wrapped in cotton coverings, with great respect and veneration? 



"Dost thou believe, and hold for very truth, that these green stones 

 give thee food and drink, even as thy ancestors believed, who died in their 

 idolatry? Dost thou believe that they give thee success and prosperity 



* Saliaguii, Ilistoria de Nacva Espafia, Lib. i, cap. 13. The Nahuatl text is more definite 

 than the Spanish translation. 



t See my Myths of the New World., p. 154, seg. 



I In the Nahuatl language tlie word xihuitl {xiuitl) has four meanings : a plant, a tur- 

 quoise, a year and a comet. 



I J. B. Carriedo, Eatudios Historicos del Eslado Oaxaqueno, Tom. i, p. 82, etc. 



