1891.] ^^ [Brinton. 



later ceremony, although the latter has been asserted b}' some 

 writers ; who, however, seem to have applied without certain 

 knowledge the rites of the Xahuas and other surrounding tribes 

 to the Zapotecs.* 



Next in importance to the assigning of names, according to 

 Father Cordova, was the emploj-ment of the calendar in decid- 

 ing the propriet}^ of marriages. As the recognized object of 

 marriage was to have sons, the couple appealed to the profes- 

 sional augnr to decide this question before the marriage was 

 fixed. He selected as man}^ beans as was the sum of the num- 

 bers of the two proponents' names, and, counting them b}^ twos, 

 if one remained over, it meant a sou ; then counting by threes 

 any remainder also meant sons ; b}* fours the remainder meant 

 either sons or daughters ; and by five and six the same ; and 

 if there was no remainder by any of these five divisors the 

 marriage would result in no sons and was prohibited. 



It is obvious that this method of fortune-telling was most 

 auspicious for the lovers ; for I doubt if there is any combina- 

 tion of two numbers below fourteen which is divisible by two, 

 three, four, five and six without remainder in any one instance."]" 



The Zapotecs were one of those nations who voluntarily sub- 

 mitted themselves to the Spaniards, not out of love for the 

 Europeans, but through hatred of the Aztecs, who had con- 

 quered them in the preceding centuiy. Their king, Coyop}^, 

 and his subjects accepted Christianit3^ and were generally bap- 

 tized ; but it was the merest formality', and years afterwards 

 Coj^opy was detected secretly conducting the heathen ritual of 

 his ancestors with all due pomp. He was arrested, sent to the 

 city of Mexico, deprived of his power and wealth, and soon 

 died; it is charitably supposed, from natural causes. There is 

 no question but that he left successors to the office of pontifex 

 maximus, and that they continued the native religious cere- 

 monies. 



12. The sparse notices we have of the astrology- of the Mix- 

 tecs, neighbors and some think relatives of the Zapotecs, reveal 



.* For instance, J. B. Carriedo, in his Estudios Histoncos del Esfado Oaxnqucilo (Oaxaoa, 

 1S49), v>- 15, says the nahualt was a ceremony peri'ormecl by the native priest, in which the 

 infant was bled from a vein beliind the ear, assigned a name, tliat of a certain day, and 

 a guardian angel or tnna. Tliese words are pure Jsahuatl, and Carriedo, who does not 

 give his authority, probably had none which referred these rites to the Zapotecs. 



t Juan de Cordova, Arte en Lcngua Zapolcca, pp. 16, 202, 203, 213, 216. 



