



Produced by Clare Graham & Marc D'Hooghe at Free Literature





THE MYTHOLOGY OF ALL RACES

_IN THIRTEEN VOLUMES_

LOUIS HERBERT GRAY, A.M., PH.D., EDITOR

GEORGE FOOT MOORE, A.M., D.D., LL.D., CONSULTING EDITOR


LATIN-AMERICAN

BY

HARTLEY BURR ALEXANDER, PH.D.

PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA

VOLUME XI


BOSTON MARSHALL JONES COMPANY

M DCCCC XX




[Illustration: PLATE I.]

 Top face of the monolith known as the "Dragon" or the "Great Turtle"
 of Quirigua. This is one of the group of stelae and "altars" which
 mark the ceremonial courts of this vanished Maya city (see Plate
 XXIII); and is perhaps the master-work not only of Mayan, but of
 aboriginal American art. The top of the stone here figured shows
 a highly conventionalized daemon or dragon mask, surrounded by a
 complication of ornament. The north and south (here lower and upper)
 faces of the monument contain representations of divinities; on the
 south face is a mask of the "god with the ornamented nose" (possibly
 Ahpuch, the death god), and on the north, seated within the open mouth
 of the Dragon, the teeth of whose upper jaw appear on the top face of
 the monument, is carved a serene, Buddha-like divinity shown in Plate
 XXV. The Maya date corresponding, probably, to 525 A. D. appears in
 a glyphic inscription on the shoulder of the Dragon. The monument is
 fully described by W. H. Holmes, _Art and Archaeology_, Vol. IV, No. 6.




TO

ALICE CUNNINGHAM FLETCHER

IN APPRECIATION OF HER INTERPRETATIONS OF AMERICAN INDIAN LIFE AND
LORE




AUTHOR'S PREFACE


In aim and plan the present volume is made to accord as nearly as
may be with the earlier-written volume on the mythology of the North
American Indians. Owing to divergence of the materials, some deviations
of method have been necessary, but in their main lines the two books
correspond in form as they are continuous in matter. In each case
the author has aimed primarily at a descriptive treatment, following
regional divisions, and directed to essential conceptions rather than
to exhaustive classification; and in each case it has been, not the
specialist in the field, but the scholar with kindred interests and the
reader of broadly humane tastes whom the author has had before him.

The difficulties besetting the composition of both books have been
analogous, growing chiefly from the vast diversities of the sources
of material; but these difficulties are decidedly greater for the
Latin-American field. The matter of spelling is one of the more
immediate. In general, the author has endeavoured to adhere to such
of the rules given in Note 1 of _Mythology of All Races_, Vol. X (pp.
267-68), as may be applicable, seeking the simplest plausible English
forms and continuing literary usage wherever it is well established,
both for native and for Spanish names (as _Montezuma, Cortez_).
Consistency is pragmatically impossible in such a matter; but it is
hoped that the foundational need, that of identification, is not evaded.

The problem of an appropriate bibliography has proven to be of the
hardest. To the best of the author's belief, there exists, aside from
that here given, no bibliography aiming at a systematic classification
of the sources and discussions of the mythology of the Latin-American
Indians, as a whole. There are, indeed, a considerable number of
special bibliographies, regional in character, for which every student
must be grateful; and it is hoped that not many of the more important
of these have failed of inclusion in the bibliographical division
devoted to "Guides"; but for the whole field, the appended bibliography
is pioneer work, and subject to the weaknesses of all such attempts.
The principles of inclusion are: (1) All works upon which the text of
the volume directly rests. These will be found cited in the _Notes_,
where are also a few references to works cited for points of an
adventitious character, and therefore not included in the general
bibliography. (2) A more liberal inclusion of English and Spanish than
of works in other languages, the one for accessibility, the other for
source importance. (3) An effort to select only such works as have
material directly pertinent to the mythology, not such as deal with
the general culture, of the peoples under consideration,--a line most
difficult to draw. In respect to bibliography, it should be further
stated that it is the intent to enter the names of Spanish authors in
the forms approved by the rules of the Real Academia, while it has not
seemed important to follow other than the English custom in either text
or notes. It is certainly the author's hope that the labour devoted
to the assembling of the bibliography will prove helpful to students
generally, and it is his belief that those wishing an introduction
to the more important sources for the various regions will find of
immediate help the select bibliographies given in the _Notes_, for each
region and chapter.

The illustrations should speak for themselves. Care has been taken
to reproduce works which are characteristic of the art as well as of
the mythic conceptions of the several peoples; and since, in the more
civilized localities, architecture also is significantly associated
with mythic elements, a certain number of pictures are of architectural
subjects.

It remains to express the numerous forms of indebtedness which pertain
to a work of the present character. Where they are a matter of
authority, it is believed that the references to the _Notes_ will be
found fully to cover them; and where illustrations are the subject,
the derivation is indicated on the tissues. In the way of courtesies
extended, the author owes recognition to staff-members of the libraries
of Harvard and Northwestern Universities, to the Peabody Museum, the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the American Museum of Natural History, and
the Museum of the University of Nebraska. His personal obligations are
due to Professor Frank S. Philbrick, of the Northwestern University
Law School, and to the Assistant Curator of the Academy of Pacific
Coast History, Dr. Herbert I. Priestley, for valuable suggestions
anent the bibliography, and to Dr. Hiram Bingham, of the Yale Peruvian
Expedition, for his courtesy in furnishing for reproduction the
photographs represented by Plates XXX and XXXVIII. His obligations to
the editor of the series are, it is trusted, understood.

The manuscript of the present volume was prepared for the printer by
November of 1916. The ensuing outbreak of war delayed publication
until the present hour. In the intervening period a number of works
of some importance appeared, and the author has endeavoured to
incorporate as much as was essential of this later criticism into the
body of his work, a matter difficult to make sure. The war also has
been responsible for the editor's absence in Europe during the period
in which the book has been put through the press, and the duty of
oversight has fallen upon the author who is, therefore, responsible for
such editorial delinquencies as may be found.

 HARTLEY BURR ALEXANDER.

 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA,

 November 17, 1919.




CONTENTS


                                                                 PAGE

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.                                                 vii


INTRODUCTION.                                                       i


    CHAPTER I.         THE ANTILLES.                                   15

    I                  The Islanders.                                  15

    II                 The First Encounters.                           18

    III                Zemiism.                                        21

    IV                 Taïno Myths.                                    28

    V                  The Areitos.                                    32

    VI                 Carib Lore.                                     36


    CHAPTER II.        MEXICO.                                         41

    I                  Middle America.                                 41

    II                 Conquistadores.                                 44

    III                The Aztec Pantheon.                             49

    IV                 The Great Gods.                                 57

    1                  Huitzilopochtli.                                58

    2                  Tezcatlipoca.                                   61

    3                  Quetzalcoatl.                                   66

    4                  Tlaloc and Chalchiuhtlicue.                     71

    V                  The Powers of Life.                             74

    VI                 The Powers of Death.                            79


    CHAPTER III.       MEXICO. (_continued_)                           85

    I                  Cosmogony.                                      85

    II                 The Four Suns.                                  91

    III                The Calendar and its Cycles.                    96

    IV                 Legendary History.                             105

    V                  Aztec Migration-Myths.                         111

    VI                 Surviving Paganism.                            118


    CHAPTER IV.        YUCATAN.                                       124

    I                  The Maya.                                      124

    II                 Votan, Zamna, and Kukulcan.                    131

    III                Yucatec Deities.                               136

    IV                 Rites and Symbols.                             142

    V                  The Maya Cycles.                               146

    VI                 The Creation.                                  152


    CHAPTER V.         CENTRAL AMERICA.                               156

    I                  Quiché and Cakchiquel.                         156

    II                 The Popul Vuh.                                 159

    III                The Hero Brothers.                             168

    IV                 The Annals of the Cakchiquel.                  177

    V                  Honduras and Nicaragua.                        183


    CHAPTER VI.        THE ANDEAN NORTH.                              187

    I                  The Cultured Peoples of the Andes.             187

    II                 The Isthmians.                                 189

    III                El Dorado.                                     194

    IV                 Myths of the Chibcha.                          198

    V                  The Men from the Sea.                          204


    CHAPTER VII.       THE ANDEAN SOUTH.                              210

    I                  The Empire of the Incas.                       210

    II                 The Yunca Pantheons.                           220

    III                The Myths of the Chincha.                      227

    IV                 Viracocha and Tonapa.                          232

    V                  The Children of the Sun.                       242

    VI                 Legends of the Incas.                          248


    CHAPTER VIII.      THE TROPICAL FORESTS: THE ORINOCO AND GUIANA.  253

    I                  Lands and Peoples.                             253

    II                 Spirits and Shamans.                           256

    III                How Evils Befell Mankind.                      261

    IV                 Creation and Cataclysm.                        268

    V                  Nature and Human Nature.                       275


    CHAPTER IX.        THE TROPICAL FORESTS: THE AMAZON AND BRAZIL.   281

    I                  The Amazons.                                   281

    II                 Food-Makers and Dance-Masks.                   287

    III                Gods, Ghosts, and Bogeys.                      295

    IV                 Imps, Were-Beasts, and Cannibals.              300

    V                  Sun, Moon, and Stars.                          304

    VI                 Fire, Flood, and Transformations.              311


    CHAPTER X.         THE PAMPAS TO THE LAND OF FIRE.                316

    I                  The Far South.                                 316

    II                 El Chaco and the Pampeans.                     318

    III                The Araucanians.                               324

    IV                 The Patagonians.                               331

    V                  The Fuegians.                                  338


    NOTES.                                                            347


    BIBLIOGRAPHY.                                                     381





ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS


PLATE                                                      PAGE

  I        The Dragon of Quirigua--Photogravure.             Frontispiece

  II       Antillean Triangular Stone Images.                24

  III      Antillean Stone Ring.                             29

  IV       Dance in Honor of the Earth Goddess, Haiti.       35

  V        Aztec Goddess, probably Coatlicue.                47

  VI       Tutelaries of the Quarters, Codex                 56
  xx       Ferjérváry-Mayer--.

  VII      Coyolxauhqui, Xochipilli, and Xiuhcoatl.          60

  VIII     Tezcatlipoca, Codex Borgia--.             65

  IX       Quetzalcoatl, Macuilxochitl, Huitzilopochtli,     71
  xx       Codex Borgia--.

  X        Mask of Xipe Totec.                               76

  XI       Mictlantecutli, God of Death.                     81

  XII      Heavenly Bodies, Codex Vaticanus B and            88
  xx       Codex Borgia--.

  XIII     Ends of Suns, or Ages of the World, Codex         95
  xx       Vaticanus A--.

  XIV      Aztec Calendar Stone.                             101

  XV       Temple of Xochicalco.                             106

  XVI      Section of the Tezcucan "Map Tlotzin"--.  113

  XVII     Interior of Chamber, Mitla.                       118

  XVIII    Temple 3, Ruins of Tikal.                         127

  XIX      Map of Yucatan Showing Location of Maya Cities.   130

  XX       Bas-relief Tablets, Palenque.                     136

  XXI      Bas-relief Lintel, Menché, Showing Priest         144
  xx       and Penitent.

  XXII     "Serpent Numbers," Codex Dresdensis--.    152

  XXIII    Ceremonial Precinct, Quirigua.                    160

  XXIV     Image in Mouth of the Dragon of Quirigua.         168

  XXV      Stela 12, Piedras Negras.                         179

  XXVI     Amulet in the Form of a Vampire.                  190

  XXVII    Colombian Goldwork.                               196

  XXVIII   Mother Goddess and Ceremonial Dish, Colombia.     200

  XXIX     Vase Painting of Balsa, Truxillo.                 206

  XXX      Machu Picchu.                                     213

  XXXI     Monolith, Chavin de Huantar.                      218

  XXXII    Nasca Vase, Showing Multi-Headed Deity.           222

  XXXIII   Nasca Deity, in Embroidery--.             226

  XXXIV    Nasca Vase, Showing Sky Deity.                    230

  XXXV     Monolithic Gateway, Tiahuanaco.                   234

  XXXVI    Plaque, probably Representing Viracocha.          236

  XXXVII   Vase Painting from Pachacamac--.         