this skull of Huitziton, often asking for the immolation of men and women, from which thing originated those bloody sacrifices, practised afterwards by this nation with so much cruelty on prisoners of war. This deity was called, in early as well as in later times, Huitzilopochtli—for the principal men believed that he was seated at the left hand of Tezcatlipocâ—a name derived from the original name Huitziton, and from the word mapoche, ‘left hand.’ ”16
Sahagun says of Uitzilopochtli that, being originally a man, he was a sort of Hercules, of great strength and warlike, a great destroyer of towns and slayer of men. In war he had been a living fire, very terrible to his adversaries; and the device he bore was a dragon’s head, frightful in the extreme, and casting fire out of its mouth. A great wizard he had been, and sorcerer, transforming himself into the shape of divers birds and beasts. While he lived, the Mexicans esteemed this man very highly for his strength and dexterity in war, and when he died they honoured him as a god, offering slaves, and sacrificing them in his presence. And they looked to it that those slaves were well fed and well decorated with such ornaments as were in use, with earrings and visors; all for the greater honour of the god. In Tlaxcala also they had a deity called Camaxtli, who was similar to this Huitzilopochtli.17
The myth of Uitzilopochtli, as given by Sahagun, may be condensed as follows:
Under the shadow of the mountain of Coatepec, near the Toltec city of Tollan, there dwelt a pious widow called Coatlicue, the mother of a tribe of Indians called Centzonuitznaua, who had a daughter called Coyolxauhqui, and who daily repaired to a small hill with the intention of offering up prayers to the gods in