The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 3, Myths and Languages / The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 3

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

[XI-39] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 496.

[XI-40] Garcilaso says: 'C'est encore l'idée du Tonnerre, de l'Eclair et de la Foudre, contenus dans un seul Hurakan, le centre, le cœur du ciel, la tempête, le vent, le souffle.' Comentarios Reales, lib. ii., cap. xxiii., lib. iii., cap. xxi., lib. iii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. ccxxxv., 9; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 51.

[XI-41] 'Ximenez dit qu'il signifie Pluie, Averse: mais il confond ici le nom du dieu avec le signe. Toh, ... est rendu par le mot paga, paie, pagar, payer. Mais le MS. Cakehiquel ... dit que les Quichés reçurent celui de Tohohil, qui signifie grondement, bruit,' etc. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 214. He seems identical with the Maya Hunpictok.

[XI-42] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 553, tom. i., p. 128.

[XI-43] Brinton, Myths, pp. 156-7, who holds Hurakan to be the Tlaloc, connects Tohil with Quetzalcoatl—ideas taken most likely from Brasseur de Bourbourg—states that he was represented by a flint. This must refer to his traditional transformation into a stone, for the Abbé declares that no description of his idol is given by the chroniclers. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 552. Now, although the Abbé declares Tohil to be the same as Quetzalcoatl, in the Popol Vuh, p. 214, and other places, he acknowledges that the tradition positively identifies him with Hurakan, and confirms this by explaining on p. cclxvii., that Tohil, sometimes in himself, sometimes in connection with the two other members of the trinity, combines the attributes of thunder, flash, and thunderbolt; further, he gives a prayer by the Tohil priests in which this god is addressed as Hurakan. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 553. Gucumatz, the acknowledged representative of Quetzalcoatl, is, besides, shown to be distinct from Tohil. Every point, therefore, tradition, name, attributes, connect Tohil and Hurakan, and identify them with Tlaloc.

[XI-44] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 552-3.

[XI-45] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cclxvii., 235; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 554. The turning into stone 'veut dire que les trois principaux volcans s'éteignirent ou cessèrent de lancer leurs feux.' Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 331.

[XI-46] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 497, 75; Id., Popol Vuh, p. cclxii.; see note 7.

[XI-47] Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 521; Juarros' Hist. Guat., p. 384.

[XI-48] 'Hunhun-Ahpu signifie Chaque Tireur de Sarbacane; Vukub-Hun-Ahpu, Sept un Tireur de Sarbacane.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cxxxv. Their chief name, Ahpu, 'désigne la puissance volcanique.' Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 225.