The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 5, Primitive History

The only event recorded before the re-appearance of Quetzalcoatl is one of great importance, a convention of the princes and wise men of Anáhuac and vicinity. At this assemblage the system of government and the laws of succession were perfected and as may be supposed given substantially the form which they preserved down to the Conquest; but the most important act was the establishment of an alliance between the crowns of Culhuacan, Otompan, and Tollan. Each king was to be perfectly independent in the affairs of his own domain; but in matters affecting the general interests the three monarchs were to constitute a council, in which the king of Culhuacan was to rank first, assuming a title nearly equivalent to that of Emperor. Otompan took the second place and Tollan the third. This is the first mention of Otompan as a capital, but since its domain seems to have included the territory of Teotihuacan and Tezcuco, its prominent position in the league is not improbable. The establishment of this alliance, or, as it may be more conveniently termed, empire, is referred to the date 1 Tecpatl, 856.⁴⁰²

CEACATL QUETZALCOATL

Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl re-appears in history, still following the same authorities, about the year 870, and succeeded Ihuitimal as king of Tollan, assuming the title Topiltzin, on the death of that king in 873.⁴⁰³ All the Spanish writers have much to say of Quetzalcoatl, although none of them – except Sahagun, who expresses himself very clearly on the subject —⁴⁰⁴ seem to have regarded him as one of the Toltec kings in the regular order of succession to the throne; and their accounts are inextricably confused by reason of their having made no distinction between Quetzalcoatl the original culture-hero, and Quetzalcoatl, the pontiff-ruler of Tollan, applying indiscriminately to one person all the traditions in which the name occurred. I will give first the regular Spanish version of these traditions.

Mendieta records the tradition that he was the son of Camaxtli and Chimalman, and also another to the effect that Chimalman became pregnant by swallowing a chalchiuite, which she found when sweeping; but other authorities, without going back to his birth, represent him as appearing on the eastern coast, most of them agreeing on the region of Pánuco as the locality. He was tall, well formed, with broad forehead and large eyes, of fair complexion, with long black hair⁴⁰⁵ and a full beard. Bare as to his head and feet, he wore a long white robe ornamented with black flowers, according to Las Casas, or with black or red crosses, as other writers say, supporting his steps with a staff. He was austere in manner, but in character all that is good, and gentle, disapproving all acts of violence and blood, and withal most chaste, neither marrying nor knowing women. With him was a large company of artists and men learned in every branch of science, whom some of the authors seem to consider a colony from a foreign land. From Pánuco Quetzalcoatl, with his companions, came to Tollan after having tarried for some time, as Camargo tells us, at Tulancingo. He was at first received by the Toltecs with much enthusiasm, and during his stay in Tollan filled the position of high-priest or supreme spiritual ruler. His rule was mild, but he insisted on a strict performance of all religious duties, and subjected himself to severe penances, such as the drawing of blood from tongue and limbs by means of maguey-thorns. He was not without supernatural powers, since his announcements made by a crier from the top of a neighboring mountain could be heard for a distance of three hundred miles. He introduced many new religious rites, including the practice of fasting and the drawing of blood from their own body by penitents, also according to some authorities, the establishment of convents and nunneries, and the sacrifice of birds and animals; to human sacrifices he was ever opposed. He was a patron of all the arts and sciences, which in his time reached their highest state of development.⁴⁰⁶ Finally, Quetzalcoatl left Tollan and went to Cholula, which city with others on the eastern plateau, some authors – still referring to another Quetzalcoatl, and another epoch – credit him with having founded. There are many versions of his motives for abandoning Tollan, most referring to certain troubles between him and a rival Huemac or Tezcatlipoca. Playing ball with Tezcatlipoca, the latter assumed the form of a tiger, scared the spectators so that many fell over a precipice, and pursued his opponent from town to town until he reached Cholula; or he was driven away by the tricks of a sorcerer named Titlacaâon, or Titlacahua, who appeared in the form of an old man. By dint of much persuasion the magician induced Quetzalcoatl, who was unwell, to drink a medicine which he had brought, recommended to act as a narcotic. The medicine proved to be pulque, the high-priest was soon intoxicated, and in this condition was easily persuaded that by going to the ancient country of Tlapallan he might regain his youth. The other tricks of this sorcerer are many, but they seem to belong to the final overthrow of the Toltec empire rather than to Quetzalcoatl's time. Many details are given of the high-priest's journey towards Tlapallan, of the places through which he passed, and the wonderful traces which he left. He is generally credited with having stopped a short time at Quauhtitlan, and with having lived some years at Cholula, where he was especially popular, and where in after years his doctrines found their most devoted followers. But his chief enemy, Huemac, and the necromancers followed him even to Cholula with their persecutions, and he was forced to set out again on his journey towards Tlapallan. He finally disappeared in the Goazacoalco region, after predicting the future coming of bearded white men from the east. I have given here only a brief outline of the traditions respecting Quetzalcoatl, because a full account has been presented in another volume, to which the reader is referred.⁴⁰⁷

FLIGHT OF QUETZALCOATL

The supposition that Quetzalcoatl was a member of the Toltec royal family and reigned as a king at Tollan, together with the evident confounding in the traditions as recorded by the Spanish writers of two distinct persons named Quetzalcoatl,⁴⁰⁸ remove most of the difficulties connected with this famous personage, the second of the name. It seems to me most probable that the traditions relating to Quetzalcoatl's foreign origin or his long absence in distant parts of the country, his arrival at Pánuco, and his final disappearance in the south – although these are all accepted by Brasseur – should be referred to the Quetzalcoatl of primitive times. The young prince, unable for some unrevealed reason, to obtain after his arrival at years of discretion the crown of his murdered father, retired to some city in or near Anáhuac, probably Tulancingo, where he first comes into notice, to bide his time. Here he settled on his future policy including some religious reforms, communicated with powerful friends throughout Anáhuac, and perfected his plans for recovering his lost throne. Some crosses and other relics seen by the Spaniards in the mountains of Meztitlan, were attributed by native tradition to Ceacatl's residence in Tulancingo.⁴⁰⁹ Such was the force of his claim as son of Totepeuh, and such the influence of the religious dogmas zealously promulgated by him and his disciples, that at last on the death of Ihuitimal, perhaps his brother, he was raised to the throne of Tollan, as has been said, in 873, under the title of Topiltzin Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl.

REIGN OF CEACATL

There is nothing in the Spanish version of the Quetzalcoatl traditions by which to fix the epoch in which he flourished. It is merely implied that Huemac, his chief enemy, was temporal ruler at the same time that he exercised the functions of high-priest, and succeeded him in power. Huemac is identified by Brasseur, not without some reason, with Nacaxoc, the fifth king of the Spanish writers, whose reign is represented by them as having been most peaceful and uneventful. He is also known as Tezcatlipoca, and was closely related to Yohuallatonac,⁴¹⁰ the king of Culhuacan. In the Codex Chimalpopoca he is called both Huemac and Matlacxochitl.

After Quetzalcoatl had been about ten years on the throne, opposition to his power, fomented by his enemies from the first, assumed serious proportions. Several causes are plausibly attributed by the records and their interpreters to this opposition. The new pontiff-king had effected many innovations in religious ceremonies. It does not appear that his doctrines differed very materially from those entertained by his predecessors, but the changes introduced by him had been so readily admitted by reason of the popularity and zeal of their author and his subordinates, as to excite jealousy among the ecclesiastical powers. Most prominent among his peculiar reforms, and the one that is reported to have contributed most to his downfall, was his unvarying opposition to human sacrifice. This sacrifice had prevailed from pre-Toltec times at Teotihuacan, and had been adopted more or less extensively in Culhuacan and Tollan. By Quetzalcoatl it was absolutely prohibited in the temples of the latter capital, and thus the powerful priesthood of Otompan, and Culhuacan was arrayed against him. Again it is thought that under Quetzalcoatl the spiritual power always closely connected with the temporal in Nahua governments, became so predominant as to excite the jealousy and fears of the nobility in Tollan, who were restive under a priestly restraint not imposed on their brothers of corresponding rank in the other nations of the empire. Finally, under the rule of Ceacatl, Tollan had become the metropolis of the empire. It does not appear that the terms of the alliance, according to which the monarch of Culhuacan outranked the others, had been changed; but in the magnificence of her palaces and temples, and the skill and fame of her artists, if not in population, Tollan now surpassed the cities of the valley, and thus naturally was looked upon as a too successful rival. The dissatisfied element at home was headed by Huemac, or Tezcatlipoca, who had perhaps some well-founded claim to the throne, and received the support of the allied monarchs. The ensuing struggle is symbolized in the record of the Spanish writers by the successive tricks of the necromancers; and the religious strife between rival sects was continued with more or less bitterness down to the latest Aztec epoch. Such was Quetzalcoatl's repugnance to the shedding of human blood, that he seems to have voluntarily abandoned his throne against the wishes of his more warlike partisans, and after a brief stay in Quauhtitlan, to have crossed to the eastern plateau of Huitzilapan in 895. Huemac, Tezcatlipoca, or Nacaxoc succeeded immediately to the royal power in Tollan.⁴¹¹

CONQUEST OF CHOLULA

The teachings and influence of Quetzalcoatl had preceded him among the Olmec nations of the eastern region. His father, under the name of Camaxtli, had done more than any other to bring these nations under the Toltec power, had founded the city afterwards known as Tlascala, and was perhaps already worshiped as a deity. Moreover the Quetzalcoatl of old had traditionally introduced Nahua institutions in this region, where he was still the object of supreme veneration. Whether the city of Cholula was actually founded at this time or by the first Quetzalcoatl, it is impossible to determine,⁴¹² but the coming of Ceacatl seems to have marked the beginning of a new era of prosperity on the eastern plateau. Temples in honor of Camaxtli were erected in Tlascala and Huexotzinco, while Cholula became the capital of what may almost be termed a new Toltec monarchy. All the southern and eastern provinces subject to the empire during Ceacatl's reign at Tollan, gave in their adhesion to him at Cholula. Large numbers of his partisans also followed him from Tollan, and all the primitive peoples, among whom human sacrifice in pre-Toltec times had been unknown, were glad to submit to the royal high-priest. His reign in Cholula lasted about ten years,⁴¹³ and during this time his doctrines are thought to have been introduced by disciples dispatched from Cholula into the southern regions of Oajaca.

In 904 Yohuallatonac was succeeded in Culhuacan by Quetzallacxoyatl, and Huemac, having subdued by his strict and severe measures all open opposition to his rule at home, but looking with much uneasiness on the prosperity of Ceacatl in his new capital, and the constant emigration of his own subjects eastward, resolved again to attack his former rival. At the head of a large army he directed his march towards Cholula. Quetzalcoatl as before, notwithstanding the remonstrance of his people, refused to resist his progress, but departed before Huemac's arrival for other lands as before related. Cholula, with the neighboring cities and provinces fell an easy prey to the valiant Huemac; but so long did he remain absent in his insatiable desire to conquer new territory, that his subjects revolted and with the co-operation of the king of Culhuacan proclaimed Nauhyotl king about the year 930.⁴¹⁴ Huemac did not yield without a struggle. Returning westward to defend his throne he met Nauhyotl on the lake shores; his army was routed and he was killed, or at least disappeared. As Tezcatlipoca and under various other titles he ever after ranked among the highest in the pantheon of Nahua divinities.⁴¹⁵

During the ensuing era of peace among the Toltecs under Nauhyotl, or Mitl, and his allies, it seems that Cholula regained its prosperity, re-established the institutions and worship of Quetzalcoatl, and soon rivaled in magnificence Tollan, Culhuacan, and Teotihuacan. Still remaining to a certain extent a part of the Toltec empire, under the rule of the king at Tollan, Cholula seems to have preferred from this period a republican form of home rule, similar, if not identical, to that in vogue on the eastern plateau at the coming of the Spaniards.⁴¹⁶ Four of Quetzalcoatl's chief disciples were charged with the establishment of a permanent government, which they entrusted to two supreme magistrates, one chosen from the priesthood and exercising the functions of high-priest under the title of Tlachiach or 'lord from on high,' and the other from the nobility being at the head of the civil government with the title Aquiach.

REIGN OF NAUHYOTL

The reign of Nauhyotl, or Mitl,⁴¹⁷ at Tollan was one of great prosperity and peace. The new king devoted all his energies to promoting the glory of his capital city, where he re-established nearly all the reforms instituted by Ceacatl and partially abolished by Huemac. He is represented as having looked with some uneasiness on the growing prosperity of Cholula, and on the pilgrimages continually undertaken by residents of Tollan to the eastern shrines; but instead of resorting like his predecessor to hostile measures, he determined to eclipse the glory of Cholula by the erection of new and magnificent temples at home. The finest of these temples was that built in honor of the Goddess of Water,⁴¹⁸ or the Frog Goddess, to which was attached a college of priests vowed to celibacy. Meantime the worship of Camaxtli and Tlaloc were more firmly established than before at Tlascala and Huexotzinco, and grand temples were built in several Toltec provinces without Anáhuac, particularly in the south, one of the most famous being near Quauhnahuac, later Cuernavaca, the ruins of which may be supposed with some plausibility to be identical with those of Xochicalco.⁴¹⁹ After having restored Tollan to the position it had occupied under Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl, Nauhyotl died after a reign of fifteen years in 945.⁴²⁰

All the authorities agree that Nauhyotl was succeeded at his death by his queen Xiuhtlaltzin,⁴²¹ who reigned four years, showing great zeal and wisdom in the management of public affairs, and dying deeply regretted by all her subjects.⁴²² The Spanish writers name Tecpancaltzin as the successor of the lamented queen, referring to his reign and to that of his successor the events which brought about the overthrow of the Toltec empire. The Nahua records, however, represent queen Xiuhtlaltzin as having been followed by her son Matlaccoatl, who reigned from 949 to 973, and who in his turn was succeeded by Tlilcoatzin, ruling from 973 to 994, and preceding Tecpancaltzin, respecting whose reign these records agree to a great extent with the other authorities. We have no record of any specific events that occurred during the reign of the three sovereigns last mentioned, save that in Culhuacan Quetzallacxoyatl was succeeded in 953 by Chalchiuh Tlatonac, and the latter in 985 by Totepeuh, the second of the name.⁴²³

I come now to the last century of the period to which this chapter is devoted, a century whose annals form a continuous record of civil and religious strife in Anáhuac, invasions by powerful bands from the adjoining regions on the north and north-west, pestilence and famine, resulting in the utter overthrow of the Toltec empire. There is somewhat less contradiction among the two classes of authorities quoted respecting the events of this century than in the case of those preceding. The Spanish writers still speak of Tollan, it is true, as if that city alone constituted the empire; but the Nahua documents also ascribe almost exclusively to Tollan the occurrences which caused the destruction of the Toltec power. The latter documents, however, still keep up the thread of historical events at Culhuacan and in other provinces, and they are doubtless much more reliable in the matter of dates than the Spanish version, besides narrating the invasions of foreign tribes, a disturbing element in Toltec politics almost entirely ignored by Ixtlilxochitl and his followers. Notwithstanding the general agreement of the authorities referred to, it must be noted that the record is but a succession of tales in which the marvelous and supernatural largely predominate, conveying a tolerably accurate idea of the general course of history during this period, but throwing very little light on its details. In accordance with my plan already announced, I have but to tell the tales as they are recorded; their general meaning is sufficiently apparent, and I shall offer but rarely conjectures respecting the specific significance of each.

REIGN OF HUEMAC II

Huemac II., also known as Tecpancaltzin,⁴²⁴ the eldest son of Totepeuh II. of Culhuacan, mounted the throne of Tollan in 994,⁴²⁵ at a time when that city in respect of art and high culture was at the head of the empire, although Culhuacan still retained her original political supremacy, while both Teotihuacan and Cholula were rivals in the power and fame of their respective priesthood. There are no data for assigning even approximately exact limits to the Toltec empire at this period. It is probably, however, that while the Toltec was less absolute and despotic than the Aztec power in the sixteenth century, yet it was exerted throughout fully as wide an extent of territory, including Michoacan and a broad region in the north-west never altogether subjected to the Aztec kings. The Toltec domain had been enlarged gradually by the influence of the priesthood, particularly under Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl, until there were few provinces from Tehuantepec to Zacatecas, from the North to the South Sea, which did not render a voluntary allegiance to the allied monarchs of the central region. And at the same time it cannot be believed that foreign conquest by force of arms had so small a place among the events of Toltec history as the records would imply. Huemac II., unlike the first of the same name, belonged to the sect of Quetzalcoatl, using his power to restrain the practice of human sacrifice if not altogether abolishing it in the temples of Tollan. He even seems to have added the name of Quetzalcoatl to his other royal and pontifical titles, or possibly had this title before his coronation, as high-priest of the sect at Culhuacan. The application of this title to Huemac, and that of Tezcatlipoca to the high-priest of the rival sect, has been productive of no little confusion in the record, since it is sometimes impossible to decide whether certain events should be attributed to this reign or to the time of Ceacatl and Huemac I. The new king was endowed with fine natural qualifications for his position, and enjoyed to a remarkable degree the confidence and esteem of the people. During the first year he ruled with great wisdom, speaking but little, attending most strictly to the performance of his religious duties, and always prompt in the administration of justice to his subjects of whatever station; but the old fire of religious strife, though smouldering, was yet alive and ready to be fanned into a conflagration which should consume the whole Toltec structure. The leaders of the rival sect, followers of the bloody Tezcatlipoca and bitter enemies to all followers of Quetzalcoatl, although now in the minority were constantly intriguing for the fall of Huemac. But they well knew the popularity of their hated foe, and bent all their energies to the task of dragging him down from his lofty pedestal of popular esteem, by tempting him into the commission of acts unworthy of himself as high-priest, king, and successor of the great Quetzalcoatl. A scandal was to be created; wine and women were naturally the agents to be employed; the tale is a very strange one.

THE KING'S MISTRESS

Papantzin, a Toltec noble of high rank, presented himself one day at court, together with his daughter, the beautiful Xochitl,⁴²⁶ bearing with other gifts to the king a kind of syrup and sugar made from maguey-juice by a process of which Papantzin was the inventor. This syrup is generally spoken of as pulque, but there seems to be little reason for making a fermented liquor of 'miel prieta de maguey.'⁴²⁷ Whatever the nature of the syrup, it pleased the royal palate, and the lovely face and form of the young Xochitl were no less pleasing to the royal eye. The king expressed his appreciation of the new invention, and his desire to receive additional samples of the sweet preparation, at the same time telling the father that he would be pleased to receive such gifts at the hands of the daughter, who might visit him for such a purpose unattended save by a servant. Proud of the honor shown to his family, and without suspicion of evil intentions, Papantzin only a few days later sent Xochitl, accompanied by an elderly female attendant, with a new gift of maguey-syrup. The attendant was directed to await her mistress in a distant apartment of the palace, while Xochitl was introduced alone to the presence of Huemac. Bravely the maiden resisted the monarch's blandishments and protestations of ardent love, but by threats and force was compelled to yield her person to his embrace. She was then sent to the strongly-guarded palace of Palpan near the capital, and there, cut off from all communication with parents or friends, lived as the king's mistress. Her parents were notified that their daughter had been entrusted by Huemac to the care of certain ladies who would perfect her education and fit her for a prominent position among the ladies of the court and for a brilliant marriage. To Papantzin the royal manner of showing honor to his family seemed at best novel and strange, but he could suspect no evil intent on the part of the pious representative of Quetzalcoatl. New favors were subsequently shown the dishonored father, in the shape of lands and titles and promises. For three years Huemac continued his guilty amour in secret, and in the meantime, in 1002,⁴²⁸ a child was born, named Meconetzin, 'child of the maguey,' or at a later period Acxitl. According to the Codex Chimalpopoca the king during these three years gave himself up to the pleasures of the wine cup also, yielding to the temptations placed before him by the crafty followers of Tezcatlipoca, and during one of his drunken orgies revealed the secret of his love; but however this may have been, that secret was finally suspected; Papantzin in the disguise of a laborer visited the palace of Palpan, met his daughter with the young Meconetzin in her arms, and listened to the tale of her shame. The angry father seems to have been quieted with the promise that his daughter's son should be proclaimed heir to the throne, since the queen had borne her husband only daughters; but the scandal once suspected was spread far and wide by the priesthood of Tezcatlipoca, and the faith of the Toltecs in their saintly monarch was shaken. The queen having died, Xochitl with her young son was brought to the royal palace, and there is some reason to suppose that she was made Huemac's legitimate queen by a regular marriage. Very serious dissatisfaction, and even open hostility among the princes of highest rank, were excited by the king's actions, both on account of the shameful nature of such acts, and also because their own chance of future succession to the throne was destroyed by Huemac's avowed intention to make Acxitl his heir. Everything presaged a revolution, and the foes of Quetzalcoatl were cheered with hopes of approaching triumph. Huemac's mind was filled with trouble, which all the flattery of the court could not wholly remove, and the prospects of his family were not brightened by the fact that the young Acxitl from his birth had the physical peculiarities predicted by the prophet Hueman of olden time, in connection with such wide-spread and fatal disasters. Yet it was hoped that by careful instruction and training, even the decrees of fate might be reversed and impending disaster averted, especially as in childhood and youth prince Acxitl gave most cheering promise of future goodness and ability.⁴²⁹

TOVEYO'S ADVENTURES

Another event served to increase the troubles that began to gather about the throne. It appears that Huemac by his first queen Maxio had three daughters, who were much sought in marriage, rather for motives of political ambition, perhaps, than love, by the Toltec nobles. One especially was greatly beloved by her father and none of the many aspirants to her hand found favor in her eyes. One day while walking among the flowers in the royal gardens, she came upon a man selling chile. Some of the traditions say that the pepper-vender, Toveyo,⁴³⁰ was Tezcatlipoca who had assumed the appearance of a plebeian; at any rate he was entirely naked and awakened in the bosom of the princess a love for which her Toltec suitors had sighed in vain. So violent was her passion as to bring on serious illness, the cause of which was told by her maids to Huemac, and the indulgent father, though very angry with Toveyo at first, finally, as the only means of restoring his daughter to health, sought out the plebeian vender of pepper and forced him, perhaps not very much against his will, to be washed and dressed and to become the husband of the love-sick princess. This marriage caused great dissatisfaction and indignation among the Toltecs; an indignation that is easily understood, however the legend be interpreted. In case a literal interpretation be accepted, the upper classes in Tollan may naturally have been shocked by the admission of a low-born peasant to the royal family; on the other hand the version given may have originated with the disappointed suitors, who gratified their spite by reviling the successful Toveyo. It is also possible that the legend symbolizes by this marriage the granting of new privileges to the lower classes against the will of the nobility; however this may be, the result was wide-spread discontent ready to burst forth in open revolt.⁴³¹

Among the disaffected lords who openly revolted against Tollan, Cohuanacotzin, Huehuetzin, Xiuhtenancaltzin, and Mexoyotzin⁴³² are mentioned, by Ixtlilxochitl as rulers of provinces on the Atlantic, by Veytia as lords of regions extending from Quiahuiztlan (according to Brasseur, Vera Cruz) northward along the coast of the North Sea to a point beyond Jalisco. Respecting the events of this revolution of Toltec provinces thus vaguely located, we have only the continuation of Toveyo's adventures, which seems to belong to this war. The tale runs that Huemac, somewhat frightened at the storm of indignation which followed his choice of a son-in-law, sent him out to fight in the wars of Cacatepec and Coatepec, giving secret orders that he should be so stationed in battle as to be inevitably killed. The main body of the Toltec army yielded to the superior numbers of the foe and fled to Tollan, leaving Toveyo and his followers to their fate; but the latter, either by his superior skill or by his powers as a magician, notwithstanding the small force at his command, utterly routed the enemy and returned in triumph to the capital, where the king and people received him with great honors and public demonstrations of joy. For a time the kingdom seems to have remained without disturbance, and fortune once more smiled on Huemac.⁴³³

OMENS OF DESTRUCTION

As to the exact order in which occurred the subsequent disasters by which the Toltec empire was overthrown, the authorities differ somewhat, although agreeing tolerably well respecting their nature. Many events ascribed by Brasseur to Huemac's reign are by Veytia and others described as having happened in that of his successor. There can, however, be but little hesitation in following the chronology of the Nahua documents often referred to, in preference to that of the Spanish writers. The latter is certainly erroneous; the former at the worst is only probably so. With his returning prosperity the king seems to have returned to his evil ways while the partizans of Tezcatlipoca resumed their intrigues against him. The sorcerer assembled a mighty crowd near Tollan, and kept them dancing to the music of his drum until midnight, when by reason of the darkness and their intoxication they crowded each other off a precipice into a deep ravine, where they were turned to stone. A stone bridge was also broken by the necromancer and crowds precipitated into the river.⁴³⁴ Other wonderful acts of the sorcerer against the well-being of the Toltecs as related by Sahagun have been given in another volume.⁴³⁵ From one of the neighboring volcanoes a flood of glowing lava poured, and in its lurid light appeared frightful spectres threatening the capital. A sacrifice of captives in honor of Tezcatlipoca, was decided upon to appease the angry gods, a sacrifice which Huemac was forced to sanction. But when a young boy, chosen by lot as the first victim, was placed upon the altar and the obsidian knife plunged into his breast, no heart was found in his body, and his veins were without blood. The fetid odor exhaled from the corpse caused a pestilence involving thousands of deaths. The struggles of the Toltecs to get rid of the body have been elsewhere related.⁴³⁶ Next the Tlaloc divinities appeared to Huemac as he walked in the forest, and were implored by him not to take from him his wealth and his royal splendor. The gods were wroth at this petition, his apparent selfishness, and want of penitence for past sins, and they departed announcing their purpose to bring plagues and suffering upon the proud Toltecs for six years. The winter of 1018 was so cold that all plants and seeds were killed by frost, and was followed by a hot summer, which parched the whole surface of the country, dried up the streams, and even calcined the solid rocks.