for purposes of comparison and analogy.
Nuñez de la Vega: A book in the Quiche tongue, said to have been written by Votan, a local name for Quetzalcoatl, was at one time in the possession of Nuñez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapas, who included portions of it in his Constituciones Diocesianos de Chiapas, but nevertheless destroyed it in his holocaust of MSS. at Heuheutlan in 1691. Ordoñez de Aguilar had, however, made a copy of it before its destruction, and incorporated it in his Historia de Cielo MS. In this work Votan declared himself “a snake,” a descendant of Imos, of the line of Chan85 of the race of Chivim. Taking Aguilar’s account along with that of Nuñez de la Vega, as both rely upon the same authority, we find that Votan proceeded to America by divine command, his mission being to lay the foundation of civilization. With this object in view he departed from Valum Chivim,86 passing the dwelling of the thirteen snakes, and arrived in Valum Votan, whence, with some members of his family, he set out to form a settlement, ascending the Usumacinta River and ultimately founding Palenque. By reason of their peculiar dress the Tzendal Indians called them Tzequitles, or “men with shirts,” but consented to amalgamate with them. Ordoñez states that when Votan had established himself at Palenque he made several visits to his original home. On one of these he came to a tower which had been intended to reach the heavens, a project which had been brought to naught by the linguistic confusion of those who conceived it. Finally he was permitted to reach “the rock of heaven” by a subterranean passage. Returning to Palenque, he found that others of his race had arrived there, and with them he made a friendly pact. He built a temple by the