18. The references in this verse are obscure, and I doubt if I have solved them.
20. "The house of spring;" compare the expression in v. 1, of Nezahualcoyotl's song, p. 42.
21. A long oration of Xicontecatl, lord of Tizatlan, may be found in Clavigero, Hist. Antica di Messico, Tom. III, p. 40. The expression in camaxochitzin, from camatl, mouth, xochitl, rose, flower, and the reverential tzin, is noteworthy.
24. petlacoatl, the centipede or scolopender; from petlatl, mat, and coatl, serpent, as they are said to intertwine with each other, like the threads of a mat (Sahagun, Lib. XII, cap. 4).
NOTES FOR SONG XVIII.
At this portion of the MS. several poems are preceded by a line of syllables indicating their accompaniment on the teponaztli (see Introduction, p. 32).
The present number is one of the most noteworthy songs of the collection. It belongs to the ancient cyclus of Quetzalcoatl myths, and gives a brief relation of the destruction of Tollan and the departure and disappearance of the Light God, Quetzalcoatl Ce Acatl. As I have elsewhere collated this typical myth at length, and interpreted it according to the tenets of modern mythologic science, I shall not dwell upon it here (see D.G. Brinton, American Hero Myths, Phila., 1882).
The text of the poem is quite archaic, and presents many difficulties. But my translation, I think, gives the general sense correctly.
1. huapalcalli; literally, "the house constructed of beams." This name was applied to the chief temple of the Toltecs; the ruins of an ancient structure at Tollantzinco were pointed out at the time of the Conquest as those of this building (see Sahagun, Hist. de la Nueva España, Lib. X, cap. 29).