215 



tabri, arrived thither before the nations the near- 

 est Asia, before the Thracians, the Illyrians, and 

 the Pelasgi ? 



But, whatever be the relative antiquity of the 

 different races of men settled in the mountains 

 of Mexico, the Caucasus of America, it appears 

 certain, that none of these nations, from the Ol- 

 mecks to the Aztecks, had for a long time been 

 acquainted with the barbarous custom of sacri- 

 ficing human victims. The principal divinity of 

 the Toltecks was called Tlalocteuctli ; he was at 

 once the god of water, of mountains, and of tem- 

 pests. In the eyes of these mountaineers, it is on 

 the lofty summits perpetually enveloped in clouds, 

 that the mysterious preparation of thunder takes 

 place ; there the abode of the great spirit Teotl 

 is fixed ; of that invisible being called Ipalne- 

 moanl and Tlock-Nahuach, because he is self- 

 existent, and contains all things within himself ; 

 and from this almost inaccessible region rushes 

 the tempest, which destroys the hut, and the 

 beneficent rain, which enlivens the fields. The 

 Toltecks had erected on the top of a high moun- 

 tain the image of Tlalocteuctli ; this image, 

 rudely carved, was made of a white stone, con- 

 sidered as divine (teotetl), for this people, like 

 the ancient Orientals *, attached superstitious 

 ideas to the color of certain stones. Tlalocteuctli 



* Millii Dissertationes selectae, p. 309. 



