8 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



worthy to live with her eternally in heaven : but fince 

 they chofe to abide upon the earth, {he defired them to 

 go to Mifllanteufitli, god of hell, and afk of him one of 

 the bones of the men that had died ; to fprinkle this 

 with their own blood, and from it they would have a man 

 and a woman who would afterwards multiply. At the 

 fame time flie warned them to be upon their guard againft 

 Mifllanteuflli, who after giving the bone might fuddenly 

 repent. With thefe inftru&ions from his mother, Xolotl, 

 one of the heroes, went to hell, and after obtaining what 

 he fought, began to run towards the upper furface of 

 the earth : upon which MittlanteuEM enraged purfued 

 him, but being unable to come up with him, returned 

 to hell. Xolotl in his precipitate flight {tumbled, and 

 falling broke the bone into unequal pieces. Gathering 

 them up again, he continued his courfe till he arrived at 

 the place where his brothers awaited him ; when they 

 put the fragments into a veffel, and fprinkled them with 

 their blood which they drew from different parts of their 

 bodies. Upon the fourth day they beheld a boy, and 

 continuing to fprinkle with blood for three days more, a 

 girl was likewife formed. They were both conflgned to 

 the care of Xolotl to be brought up, who fed them 

 with the milk of the thiftle. In that way, they believed 

 the recovery of mankind was effected at that time. 

 Thence took its rife, as they affirmed, the practice of 

 drawing blood from different parts of the body, which as 

 we {hall fee was fo common among thefe nations : and 

 they believed the differences in the ftature of men to have 

 been occafioned by the inequality of the pieces of the 

 bone. 



Cihuacohuatl (woman ferpent) called likewife £>ui- 

 laztli. This they believed to have been the firft woman 



that 



