[179-3] _Hist. des Incas_, liv. iii. chap. 25.

[180-1] It is compounded of _vira_, fat, foam (which perhaps is akin to _yurac_, _white_), and _cocha_, a pond or lake.

The Myths of the New World — Part 122

[180-2] See Desjardins, _Le Pérou avant la Conq. Espagnole_, p. 67.

The Myths of the New World — Part 122

[180-3] Gomara, _Hist. de las Indias_, cap. 119, in Müller.

The Myths of the New World — Part 122

[181-1] Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, i. p. 302.

[181-2] 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).

[182-1] Kingsborough, _Antiquities of Mexico_, v. p. 109.

[183-1] 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).

[183-2] Padilla Davila, _Hist. de la Prov. de Santiago de Mexico_, lib. ii. cap. 89.

[183-3] Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucathan_, lib. iv. cap. 8.

[184-1] 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_.

[184-2] 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.