Chapter I: Front Matter

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

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