93 



that the blood might be seen to trickle more 

 copiously. In a Mexican drawing in the Vati- 

 can library*, I have seen a figure representing 

 Quetzalcoatl appeasing by his penance the wrath 

 of the gods, when, thirteen thousand and sixty 

 years after the creation of the World, (I follow 

 the very vague chronology computed by Rios) 

 a great famine prevailed in the province of 

 Culan. The saint had chosen his place of retire- 

 ment near Tlaxapuchicalco, on the volcano Cat- 

 citepetl (Speaking Mountain), where he walked 

 barefooted on agave leaves armed with prickles. 

 We seem to behold one of those rishi, hermits 

 of the Ganges, whose pious austerity! is cele- 

 brated in the Pouranas. 



The reign of Quetzalcoatl was the golden age 

 of the people of Anahuac. At that period, all 

 animals, and even men, lived in peace ; the 

 earth brought forth, without culture, the most 

 fruitful harvests ; and the air was filled with a 

 multitude of birds, which were admired for their 

 song, and the beauty of their plumage. But 

 this reign, like that of Saturn, and the happiness 

 of the world, were not of long duration ; the 

 great spirit Tezcatlipoca, the Brahma of the 

 nations of Anahuac, offered Quetzalcoatl a beve- 

 rage, which, in rendering him immortal, inspired 



* Codex anonymus, No. 3738, fol. 8. 



+ Schlegel iiber Sprache and Weisheit der Indier, p. 132. 



