94 



him with a taste for travelling" ; and particularly 

 with an irresistible desire of visiting a distant 

 country, called by tradition Tlapallan*. The 

 resemblance of this name to that of Huehuet- 

 lapallan, the country of the Toltecks, appears 

 not to be accidental. But how can we conceive, 

 that this white man, priest of Tula, should have 

 taken his direction, as we shall presently find, 

 to the south-east, towards the plains of Cholula, 

 and thence to the eastern coasts of Mexico, in 

 order to visit this northern country, whence his 

 ancestors had issued in the five hundred and 

 ninety-sixth year of our era ? 



Quetzalcoatl, in crossing the territory of 

 Cholula, yielded to the intreaties of the inhabit- 

 ants, who offered him the reins of government. 

 He dwelt twenty years among them, taught 

 them to cast metals, ordered fasts of eight days, 

 and regulated the intercalations of the Tolteck 

 year. He preached peace to men, and would 

 permit no other offerings to the Divinity, than 

 the first fruits of the harvest. From Cholula 

 Quetzalcoatl passed on to the mouth of the river 

 Goasacoalco, where he disappeared, after having 

 declared to the Cholulans (Chololtecatles), that 

 he would return in a short time to govern them 

 again, and renew their happiness. 



It was the posterity of this saint, whom the 



* Clavio-ero Storia di Messico, torn. 2, p. 12. 



