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 austerityt 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 anonj/mus, No. 3738, foL 8. 
f Schlegel uber Sprache and Weisheit der Indier, p. 132. 
