CHOLULAN MYTHOLOGY. 
31 
From these traditions, we derive several important facts. First, that 
QtTETZALCOATL, was " god of the air :" Second, that he was represented as 
a " feathered serpent :" Third, that he was the great divinity of the Cho- 
lulans : and, Fourth, that a hill was raised by them upon which they 
erected a temple to his glory, where they celebrated his festivals with 
pomp and splendor. 
Combining all these, is it unreasonable to believe that the Pyramid of 
Cholula was the base of this temple, and that he was there worshipped as 
the Great Spirit of the air — or of the seasons ; the God who produced the 
fruitfulness of the earth, regulated the sun, the wind and the shower, and 
thus spread plenty over the land ? I have thought, too, that the serpent 
might not improbably typify lightning, and the feathers, swiftness ; thus 
denoting one of the attributes of *^e air — and that the most speedy and 
destructive. 
In a worship of propitiation, it would be most proper and reasonable 
that that destructive element should be personified and supplicated. 
In the city of Mexico I constantly saw serpents, carved in stone, in the 
various collections of antiquities. One was presented to me by the 
Conde del PeBiasco, and the drawings below represent the figures of two 
"feathered serpents," which, after considerable labor I disinterred (I may 
say,) from a heap of dirt and rubbish, old boxes, chicken- coops and de- 
caved fruit, in the court-yard of the University. 
