him with a taste for travelling ; and particularly 
with an irresistible desire of visiting a distant 
country, called by tradition Tlapallan*. The 
resemblance of this name to that of Huehuet- 
lapallan, the country of the Toltecks, appears 
not to be accidental. But how can we conceive, 
that this white man, priest of Tula, should have 
taken his direction, as we shall presently find, 
to the south-east, towards the plains of Cholula, 
and thence to the eastern coasts of Mexico, in 
order to visit this northern country, whence his 
ancestors had issued in the five hundred and 
ninety-sixth year of our era ? 
Quetzalcoatl, in crossing the territory of 
Cholula, yielded to the intreaties of the inhabit- 
ants, who offered him the reins of government. 
He dwelt twenty years among them, taught 
them to cast metals, ordered fasts of eight days, 
and regulated the intercalations of the Tolteck 
year. He preached peace to men, and would 
permit no other offerings to the Divinity, than 
the first fruits of the harvest. Fi-om Cholula 
Quetzal coatl passed on to the mouth of the river 
Goasacoalco, where he disappeared, after having 
declared to the Cholulans (Chololtecatles), that 
he would return in a short time to govern them 
again, and renew their happiness. 
It was the posterity of this saint, whom the 
* Clavigero Storia di Messico, torn. 2, p. 12. 
