' Antiquities and Languages of the Mexican Indians. 177 



The aborigines of Mexico, believed in a supreme being, to 

 whom they gave the name of Teotl ; a term not far removed 

 from the Greek word Theos, the name in that tongue for God. 



To express the essence of the divinity, the Mexicans used the 

 term Ipalnemoani, " he who exists through himself;" and also, 

 Tloquenahuaque, "he who possesses every thing in himself." 

 What difference is there between these ideas, and those which 

 the Hebrews expressed by the word Jehovah ? None ! Let it be 

 remembered that the cradle of Moses floated upon the waters 

 of the Nile. 



The Mexicans gave to the god of water, the name of Tlaloc, 

 and the domain of the Mexican Neptune, they called Tlalocan. 

 In Mictla, of which I treated in my former letter, the god Mict- 

 lanteuctli was adored, and the goddess Mictlancihualt. Mictla, 

 signifies hell. These were the Pluto and Proserpine of the Za- 

 potecan Indians. 



The tradition of a deluge, in which perished a great portion 

 of the human race, is familiar to the Mexicans, who gave to the 

 man who saved himself and his family in a canoe, the name of 

 Teocipactli, and to his wife that of Tochiguetzal. The mountain 

 upon which they landed was called Colhuacan : the name of this 

 Mexican Ararat, is yet preserved in a village not far from Mex- 

 ico. They had a tradition, that the language which had been 

 lost in the deluge, had been taught to the survivors by a dove. 



Ometeuctliis the Jupiter Stator of the Mexicans; and Omecihuatl, 

 stands in the place of the Venus, of the Pagan mythology. 



The sun was adored under the name of Tonatiuh, and the 

 moon, by that of Meztli. These were the appellations of the 

 pyramids, dedicated to them in the neighbourhood of Teotihuacan. 

 The pyramids and the town still exist, and were visited by Hum- 

 boldt: they were the sepulchres of the Aztecan monarchs. It 

 is impossible to think of the worship to which they were devoted, 

 the uses to which they were put, and especially to their archi- 

 tecture, without recalling to mind the pyramids of Egypt. Be- 

 sides the pyramids, there were many other sepulchres in Teoti- 

 huacan. The dead were deposited there, seated with the symbols 

 of their office, and with the emblems of their dignity. The con- 

 querors found many riches in those cemetries. Cortez, in one of 

 his letters, says, that his soldiers found in one of these sepulchres 

 two hundred and forty ounces of gold. The Mexicans were not 



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