No. 1, Serpent’s Cross. No. 2, Cross seen on Quetzalcoatl’s Tunic and on the Palaces at Mitla. No. 3, Mayapan Cross. No. 4, Cross of Teotihuacan. Nos. 5 and 7, Crosses in the Temples of Palenque. No. 6, Cross met with in the Temples of Lorillard City.

The same may almost be said of the serpent.[42] It was reverenced in Egypt, in America, and is found at the beginning of Genesis; whilst in the north-west of India, the Nagas were serpent worshippers, whose great ancestor Naga was supposed to have been present at the Creation as Genius of the Ocean. He was the god of wisdom, the titular deity of mankind; and we find him at Bœroe-Bœdor, in Java, beautifully sculptured on a bas-relief, where Buddha is seen crossing the seas on a lotus-wreath, whilst close to him two immense serpents (Nagas) are raising their heads towards him in token of reverence. He is also worshipped in Cambodia, and his image is reproduced on the magnificent monuments of Angcor-Tom.

QUETZALCOATL, UNDER HIS BEST-KNOWN ATTRIBUTES.

The festival which was celebrated in honour of Quetzalcoatl during the teoxihuitl, “sacred year,” was preceded by a severe fasting of eighty days, during which the priests devoted to his service were subjected to horrible penances. He reigned successively at Izamal, in Yucatan, Chichen-Itza, and Mayapan, under the name of Cukulcan. To this god were ascribed the rites of confession and penance.

COTTON SPINNING.

The religion of the Toltecs was mild, like their disposition; no human blood ever stained their altars, their offerings consisting of fruits, flowers, and birds; nevertheless, their laws, which were the same for all classes, were stringent and severe. Polygamy was forbidden, and kings themselves were not allowed concubines, whilst their priests were deserving of the respect which was shown them from prince and peasant alike. They had sculptors, mosaists, painters, and smelters of gold and silver; and by means of moulds knew how to give metals every variety of shape; their jewellers and lapidaries could imitate all manner of animals, plants, flowers, birds, etc. Cotton was spun by the women, and given a brilliant colouring both from animal and mineral substances; it was manufactured of every degree of fineness, so that some looked like muslin, some like cloth, and some like velvet. They had also the art of interweaving with these the delicate hair of animals and birds’ feathers, which made a cloth of great beauty. Ixtlilxochitl[43] is afraid to pursue the panegyric of this people, lest it should appear exaggerated. Their calendar was adopted by all the tribes of Anahuac and Central America; it divided the year into eighteen months of twenty days each, adding five intercalary days to make up the full number of three hundred and sixty-five days; these belonged to no month, and were regarded as unlucky. Both months and days were expressed by peculiar signs; and as the year has nearly six hours in excess of three hundred and sixty-five days, they provided for this by intercalating six days at the end of four years, which formed leap year. Tlapilli, “knots,” were cycles of thirteen years; four of these cycles was a century, which they called xiuhmolpilli, “binding up of knots,” represented by a quantity of reeds bound together. Besides the “bundle” of fifty-two years, the Toltecs had a larger cycle of one hundred and four years, called “a great age,” but not much used. The whole system rested on the repetition of the signs denoting the years, enabling one by means of dots to determine accurately to what cycle or what century each year belonged. And as these signs stood differently in each cycle, confusion was impossible; for the century being indicated by a number showing its place in the cycle, the dots would make it easy to determine to what age any given year belonged, according to its place at knot first, second, third, or fourth. Thus for instance, the year tecpatl “flint,” calli “house,” tochtli “rabbit,” and acatl “reed,” beginning the great cycle, would have one, five, nine, thirteen dots in the first series; four, eight, twelve, in the second; three, seven, fourteen, in the third; and two, six, ten, in the fourth series, which would come first in the new cycle, and the latter having its appropriate sign would enable one to see at once that “Flint” 12 was the twelfth year in the second series of the first cycle or century; that “Flint” 2 was the second year in the fourth series of the first cycle, etc. Example:

TLAPILLI.

First Series.Second Series.
1. Flint6. House10. House1. House
˙: : :: : : : :˙
2. House7. Rabbit11. Rabbit2. Rabbit
˙˙˙.˙.˙.˙˙.˙.˙.˙.˙.˙˙˙
3. Rabbit8. Reed12. Reed32. Reed
˙˙˙: : : :: : : : : :˙˙˙
4. Reed9. Flint13. Flint4. Flint
: :˙.˙.˙.˙˙.˙.˙.˙.˙.˙.˙˙˙˙˙
5. Flint.
˙˙˙˙˙