Brinton.] \)64: [Nov. 4, 



forter, tlae Avenger, who protected and consoled. He it was, according 

 to the legend, who gave the inestimable blessing of fire to men, obtaining 

 it by striking his shoe (p. 218). As the deity who was looked up to by 

 the Kiche as their benevolent guide, teacher and guardian, the native 

 writer identified him with the Mexican Quetzalcoatl, the mythical founder 

 of the Nahuatl civilization (p. 246) ; but this must not be taken too liter- 

 ally, as the assertion itself only shows the general similarity of character 

 betAveen these two deities, and is far from being sufficient to prove their 

 historical identity. 



No derivations whatever have been suggested for Avilix and Hacavitz. 

 The latter, I think, is a compound of 7iak, haka, to open, disclose, reveal, 

 and also to listen to ; and mx, which means primarily a root, but which in 

 a metaphorical sense meant ancestors ; as Varea says : 



" Vix : la rayz de todo arbol. * * A sus padres llaman tambien los 

 "Indios, 7'u vixil ; dicenlo tambien de nuestros primeros Padres, Adan 

 "y Eva." 



The sense would be. He who listened to our Ancestors. 



The mythical ancestors of the royal Cakchiquel family of the Xahila 



were a avitz and Zactecauh.'^ If, as seems probable, the former is a com- 

 pound of a al, royal, vix, root stem, stii'ps, a very natural meaning ap- 

 pears in the name ; ^ « ^ «^ itself, is, according to the Calepiiio of Varea, 



a derivative from „ « . fire or flame, through the same easy analogy which 



leads us to associate brightness with glory and greatness. 



I have not found a clear derivation for Avilix ; but it is probably from 

 the verb ylin, future xavilah, to protect, care for. 



The compound Nicali-tagah is plain enough — nigah, the middle, tagah, 

 a plain, a sea-coast, a town. This is given by Brasseur. But one point 

 escaped his notice, which throws another light on the mj^thological sig- 

 nificance of this deity. By a transfer common in most languages, the 

 word for middle was also applied to the organs of generation (las ver- 

 guenzas de hombre 6 muger, Yarea, Calepmo). This divinity holds an in- 

 ferior place, and indeed is, I believe, not again mentioned in the legend. 



I now pass to the curious episode of the descent of the hero-god or gods, 

 Xbalanque, into the underworld, Xibalba, his victory over the inhabitants, 

 and triumphant return to the realm of light. The exploits of this demi- 

 god are the principal theme of the mythological portion of the Popol Vuh. 



It was the vague similarity of this myth to the narrative of the descent 

 of Christ into Hell, and His ascent into Heaven, to which we owe the 

 earliest reference to these religious beliefs of the Guatemalan tribes ; and 

 it is a gratifying proof of their genuine antiquity that we have this refer- 

 rence. Our authority is the excellent Bishop of Chiapas, Bartolome de 



*Jiecoi~ds from Tecpan-Atitlan, written by Don Francisco Ernantez Arana 

 Xahila, 1573. MSS. in Cakchiquel in my possession. 



