14 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



and their prophecies ; and examined the places through 

 which they went, the traces which they left, and the mi- 

 racles which their refpective difciples related. As we 

 have never feen the manufcript above mentioned, we mall 

 avoid criticifmg an opinion to which we cannot fubfcribe, 

 notwithftanding the refpect which we bear for the great 

 genius and extenfive learning of the author. 



Some Mexican writers are perfuaded that the Gofpel 

 had been preached in America fome centuries before the 

 arrival of the Spaniards. The grounds of that opinion 

 are fome croffes (Jz) which have been found at different 

 times, which feem to have been made before the arrival 

 of the Spaniards : the fan 1 of forty days obferved by the 

 people of the new world (^/j, the tradition of the future 



arrival 



and aguetzalcoatl, that the latter is compofed of Coatl a twin, and Quetzalli a 

 gem; and that it fignifies a Precious Twin. But Torquemada, who perfectly 

 underftood the Mexican language, and had thofe names interpreted to him by 

 the ancient people, fays that Quetzalcoatl means, ferpent furniflied with fea- 

 thers. In fact, Coatl does perfectly fignify ferpent, and Quetzalli, green-feather, 

 and have been applied to iivin and gem, only metaphorically. 



(i) The croffes the moft celebrated are thofe of Yucatan, of Mizteca, Que- 

 retaro, Tepique, and Tianquiztepec. Thofe of Yucatan are mentioned by Fa- 

 ther Cogolludo, a Francifcan, in his Hiftory, book ii. chap. 12. The crols of 

 Mizteca is taken notice of by Boturini in his work, and in the chronicle of Fa- 

 ther Burgoa, a Dominican. There is an account of the crofs of Queretaro, 

 written by a Francifcan of the college of Propaganda in that city; and of that of 

 Tepique by the learned Jefuit Sigifmund Tarabal, whofe manufcripts are pre- 

 ferved in the Jefuit college of Guadalajora. That of Tianquiztepec was difco- 

 vered by Boturini, and is mentioned in his work. The croffes of Yucatan 

 were worlhipped by the Yucatenefe, in obedience, as they faid, to the inftruc- 

 tions of their great prophet Chilam-Cambal, who defired that when a certain 

 race of men with beards mould arrive in that country from the Eaft, and mould 

 be feen to adore that fign, they mould embrace the doctrine of thofe ftrangers. 

 We fhall have an opportunity of fpeaking more particularly concerning thcfe 

 monuments, in the Ecclefiafiical Hiflory of Mexico, if Heaven vouchfafe to fa- 

 vour our defign. 



(/ J The faft of forty days proves nothing, as thofe nations likewife obferved 

 fails of three, four, five, twenty, eighty, a hundred and fixty days, and even of 

 four years ; nor was that of forty days, by any means the moft common. 



