[X-46] 'Les dieux, de quelque nature qu'ils fussent, avaient dans la langue zapotèque le nom de "Pitao," qui correspond à l'idée du grand-esprit, d'un esprit étendu.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 26-7.
[X-47] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 255-6, also refers to emigration of Toltec chiefs to found new states.
[X-48] 'Vna esmeralda tan grande como vn gruesso pimiento de esta tierra, tenia labrado encima vna auesita, ò pajarillo con grandissimo primor, y de arriba à baxo enroscada vna culebrilla con el mesmo arte, la piedra era tan transparente, que brillaba desde el fondo.' Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt i., fol. 156.
[X-49] Burgoa gives the relic in this instance a title which varies somewhat in the wording, although the former sense remains: 'El Alma, y coraçon del Reyno.' Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 396. Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 639, mentions an idol among the Zapotecs in shape of a hand, which may have represented Huemac.
[X-50] The Zapotecs had other temples also, fashioned like those of Mexico in superimposed terraces of stone-cased earth. Burgoa describes one which measured 2000 paces in circumference, and rose to a height of 88-90 feet; on each terrace stood an adobe chapel with a well attached for the storage of water. On the occasion of a great victory another terrace was added to the pile. Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 198.
[X-51] Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio's Description, p. 37.
[X-52] He also calls him the Miztec Cultur god. Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 486-90.
[X-53] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 44-5.
[X-54] Chan, 'snake,' was the name of a tribe of Lacandones, near Palenque, known also as Colhuas, Chanes, or Quinames. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 109. The book referred to or a copy of it, written in the Tzendal or Quiché language, was in the possession of Nuñez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapas, who published short extracts of it in his Constitut. Diœces, but seems to have had it burned, together with other native relics, in 1691, at Huehuetan. Previous to this, however, Ordoñez y Aguiar had obtained a copy of it, written in Latin characters, and gave a résumé of the contents in his Hist. del Cielo, MS. This author contradicts himself by stating, in one part of his MS., that the original was written by a descendant of Votan. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. lxxxvii., cviii.; Tschudi's Peruvian Antiq., p. 12; Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio's Descrip., pp. 33-4. Cabrera, who bases his account of the myth on Ordoñez' rendering, which he at times seems to have misunderstood and mutilated, thinks that Chivim refers to Tripoli, and it is the same as Hivim or Givim, the Phœnician word for snake, which, again, refers to Hivites, the descendants of Heth, son of Canaan. Votan's expression, as given in his book, 'I am a snake, a Chivim,' signifies 'I am a Hivite from Tripoli.' Teatro, in Rio's Descrip., p. 34, et seq.
[X-55] Boturini, Idea, p. 115. It may be of interest to compare his name with Odon in the Michoacan calendar, and Oton, the Otomí god and chief. Humboldt was particularly struck with its resemblance to Odin, the Scandinavian god-hero. Vues, tom. i., p. 208; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxxvi.