The Myths of the New World

Ὁ Θεος φως εστι, The First Epistle General of John, i. 5. In curious analogy to these myths is that of the Eskimos of Greenland. In the beginning, they relate, were two brothers, one of whom said: “There shall be night and there shall be day, and men shall die, one after another.” But the second said, “There shall be no day, but only night all the time, and men shall live forever.” They had a long struggle, but here once more he who loved darkness rather than light was worsted, and the day triumphed. (Nachrichten von Grönland aus einem Tagebuche vom Bischof Paul Egede, p. 157: Kopenhagen, 1790. The date of the entry is 1738.)

The last word is the second transition, present tense, of camani, while camac is its present participle.

255

I accept without hesitation the derivation of this word, proposed and defended by that accomplished Algonkin scholar, the Rev. Eugene Vetromile, from wanb, white or east, and naghi ancestors (The Abnakis and their History, p. 29: New York, 1866).

256

White light, remarks Goethe, has in it something cheerful and ennobling; it possesses “eine heitere, muntere, sanft reizende Eigenschaft.” Farbenlehre, sec’s 766, 770.

257

Hist. of the N. Am. Indians, p. 159.

258

La Hontan, Voy. dans l’Amér. Sept., ii. p. 42.

259

“Blanco pizote,” Ximenes, p. 4, Vocabulario Quiché, s. v. zak. In the far north the Eskimo tongue presents the same analogy. Day, morning, bright, light, lightning, all are from the same root (kau), signifying white (Richardson, Vocab. of Labrador Eskimo).

260

Some fragments of them may be found in Campanius, Acc. of New Sweden, 1650, book iii. chap. 11, and in Byrd, The Westover Manuscripts, 1733, p. 82. They were in both instances alleged to have been white and bearded men, the latter probably a later trait in the legend.

261

Con or Cun I have already explained to mean thunder, Con tici, the mythical thunder vase. Pachacamà is doubtless, as M. Leonce Angrand has suggested, from ppacha, source, and camà, all, the Source of All things (Desjardins, Le Pérou avant la Conq. Espagnole, p. 23, note). But he and all other writers have been in error in considering this identical with Pachacámac, nor can the latter mean creator of the world, as it has constantly been translated. It is a participial adjective from pacha, place, especially the world, and camac, present participle of camani, I animate, from which also comes camakenc, the soul, and means animating the world. It was never used as a proper name. The following trochaic lines from the Quichua poem translated in the previous chapter, show its true meaning and correct accent:—

262

Ulloa, Mémoires Philosophiques sur l’Amérique, i. p. 105.

263

Acosta, Hist. of the New World, bk. v. chap. 4, bk. vi. chap. 19, Eng. trans., 1704.

264

The name is derived from tampu, corrupted by the Spaniards to tambo, an inn, and paccari morning, or paccarin, it dawns, which also has the figurative signification, it is born. It may therefore mean either Lodgings of the Dawn, or as the Spaniards usually translated it, House of Birth, or Production, Casa de Producimiento.

265

The names given by Balboa (Hist. du Pérou, p. 4) and Montesinos (Ancien Pérou, p. 5) are Manco, Cacha, Auca, Uchu. The meaning of Manco is unknown. The others signify, in their order, messenger, enemy or traitor, and the little one. The myth of Viracocha is given in its most antique form by Juan de Betanzos, in the Historia de los Ingas, compiled in the first years of the conquest from the original songs and legends. It is quoted in Garcia, Origen de los Indios, lib. v. cap. 7. Balboa, Montesinos, Acosta, and others have also furnished me some incidents. Whether Atachuchu mentioned in the last chapter was not another name of Viracocha may well be questioned. It is every way probable.

266

Hist. des Incas, liv. iii. chap. 25.

267

It is compounded of vira, fat, foam (which perhaps is akin to yurac, white), and cocha, a pond or lake.

268

See Desjardins, Le Pérou avant la Conq. Espagnole, p. 67.

269

Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 119, in Müller.

270

Brasseur, Hist. du Mexique, i. p. 302.

271

There is no reason to lay any stress upon this feature. Beard was nothing uncommon among the Aztecs and many other nations of the New World. It was held to add dignity to the appearance, and therefore Sahagun, in his description of the Mexican idols, repeatedly alludes to their beards, and Müller quotes various authorities to show that the priests wore them long and full (Amer. Urreligionen, p. 429). Not only was Quetzalcoatl himself reported to have been of fair complexion—white indeed—but the Creole historian Ixtlilxochitl says the old legends asserted that all the Toltecs, natives of Tollan, or Tula, as their name signifies, were so likewise. Still more, Aztlan, the traditional home of the Nahuas, or Aztecs proper, means literally the white land, according to one of our best authorities (Buschmann, Ueber die Aztekischen Ortsnamen, 612: Berlin, 1852).

272

Kingsborough, Antiquities of Mexico, v. p. 109.

273

The myth of Quetzalcoatl I have taken chiefly from Sahagun, Hist. de la Nueva España, lib. i. cap. 5; lib. iii. caps. 3, 13, 14; lib. x. cap. 29; and Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, lib. vi. cap. 24. It must be remembered that the Quiché legends identify him positively with the Tohil of Central America (Le Livre Sacré, p. 247).

274

Padilla Davila, Hist. de la Prov. de Santiago de Mexico, lib. ii. cap. 89.

275

Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, lib. iv. cap. 8.

276

He is also called Idacanzas and Nemterequetaba. Some have maintained a distinction between Bochica and Sua, which, however, has not been shown. The best authorities on the mythology of the Muyscas are Piedrahita, Hist. de las Conq. del Nuevo Reyno de Granada, 1668 (who is copied by Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, pp. 246 sqq.), and Simon, Noticias de Tierra Firme, Parte ii., in Kingsborough’s Mexico.

277

D’Orbigny, L’Homme Américain, ii. p. 319, and Rochefort, Hist. des Isles Antilles, p. 482 (Waitz). The name has various orthographies, Tamu, Tamöi, Tamou, Itamoulou, etc. Perhaps the Ama-livaca of the Orinoko Indians is another form. This personage corresponds even minutely in many points with the Tamu of the island Caribs.

278

Catlin, Letters and Notes, Letter 22.