♦ 



74 



In the remotest times, before the Moon accom- 

 panied the Earth, according to the mythology of 

 the Muysca or Mozca Indians, the inhabitants of 

 the plain of Bogota lived like barbarians, naked, 

 without agriculture, without any form of laws or 

 worship. Suddenly appeared among them an 

 old man, who came from the plains situate on 

 the east of the Cordillera of Chingasa ; and who 

 appeared to be of a race unlike that of the natives, 

 having a long and bushy beard. He was known 

 by three distinct appellations, Bochica, Nem- 

 quetheba, and Zuhe. This old man, like 

 Manco-Capac, instructed men how to clothe 

 themselves, build huts, till the ground, and form 

 themselves into communities. He brought with 

 him a woman, to whom also tradition gives three 

 names, Chia, Yubecayguaya, and Huythaca. 

 This woman, extremely beautiful, and no less 

 malignant, thwarted every enterprise of her 

 husband for the happiness of mankind. By her 

 skill in magic, she swelled the river of Funzha, 

 and inundated the valley of Bogota. The 

 greater part of the inhabitants perished in this 

 deluge ; a few only found refuge on the summits 

 of the neighbouring mountains. The old man, 

 in anger, drove the beautiful Huythaca far from 

 the Earth, and she became the Moon, which 



Historia general del nuevo Heyno do Grenada, page 17; a 

 work composed from the Mss. of Quesada. 



