. The serpent symbol, and the worship of the reciprocal principles of nature in America . * Wlieu words are compounded, in the Mexican language, tlie first lose theirfinal syllable or syllables. Thus, from TEPVzfli, iron, and mecatl, chain, we havetepuzmecatl, iron chain, instead of tepuz^Zimecatl. \ It will be seen, on a subsequent page, that the name of the correspondingdivinity of the aborigines of Yucatan, Kinchahan, had precisely this signification- 162 AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES. According to Sahagun, Tezcatlipoca, in his character of theGod of Hosts, was addressed as follows by
. The serpent symbol, and the worship of the reciprocal principles of nature in America . * Wlieu words are compounded, in the Mexican language, tlie first lose theirfinal syllable or syllables. Thus, from TEPVzfli, iron, and mecatl, chain, we havetepuzmecatl, iron chain, instead of tepuz^Zimecatl. \ It will be seen, on a subsequent page, that the name of the correspondingdivinity of the aborigines of Yucatan, Kinchahan, had precisely this signification- 162 AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES. According to Sahagun, Tezcatlipoca, in his character of theGod of Hosts, was addressed as follows by the Mexican highpriest, We entreat that those who die in war may be re-ceived by thee, our Father the Sun, and our Mother theEarth, for thou alone reignest. The same authority, (lib. , 9,) informs us that in the prayer of thanks returned toTezcatlipoca by the Mexican kings, on the occasion of theircoronation, that God was recognized as the God of Fire, towhom Xiuhteuctli, Lord of Vegetation, and specifically Lord ofFire, bears the same relation that Suyra does to the first per-. FiG. 33. Tezcatlipoca, the Principal Deity of the Mexican Pantheon. son of the Hindu Triad. The king petitions that he may actin conformity with the will of the ancient God, the Father ofall the Gods, who is the God of Fire ; whose habitation is in themidst of the waters, encompassed by battlements, surroundedby rocks as it were with roses, whose name is Xiuteuctli, etc.*Tonacateuctli, or Tezcatlipoca, is often, not to say generally. * In one of the fragments of the Codex Veletri, copied by IIumLoldt, {Res.,plate \5, figure 4,), a priest is represented before a temple, offering sacrifices to the THE SERPENT SYMBOL. 163 both on the monuments and in the paintings, represented assurroundedby the disk of the sun. The engraving of this god,Fig. 33, is copied from an original Mexican painting now pre-served in the Imperial library of Vienna, a fac-simile of whichis given in the second volume of the grea
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