him, but to all the gods of wine, who were very numerous. They ornamented his image in the temple, offered him food, and made songs and played on instruments in his presence. They placed a great jar of octli in the court of the temple, and whoever wished drank from it. The duty of replenishing the jar was given to the men who cut the maguey. They carried to the house of the god the first-fruits of the first sap, which they drew from it.”
NATURE AND STATUS IN GENERAL
When a man was intoxicated with the native Mexican drink of octli, a liquor made from the juice of the Agave Americana, he was believed to be under the influence of a god or spirit. The commonest form under which the Drink-god was worshipped was the rabbit, that animal being considered as utterly devoid of sense. This particular divinity was known as Ometochtli. The scale of debauchery which it was desired to reach was indicated by the number of rabbits worshipped, the highest number, four hundred, representing the most extreme degree of intoxication. The chief octli-gods apart from these were Patecatl and Tequechmecauiani. If the drunkard desired to escape the perils of accidental hanging during intoxication, it was necessary to sacrifice to the latter, but if death by drowning was apprehended, Teatlahuiani, the deity who hurried drunkards to a watery grave, was placated. If the debauchee wished his punishment not to exceed a headache, Quatlapanqui (The Head-splitter) was sacrificed to, or else Papaztac (The Nerveless). Each trade or profession had its own Ometochtli, but for the aristocracy there was one only of these gods, Cohuatzincatl, a name signifying “He who has Grandparents.” Several of these drink-gods had names which connected them with various localities; for example, Tepoxtecatl was the octli-god of Tepoztlan. The calendar day Ometochtli, which means “two rabbit,” because of the symbol which accompanied it, was under the special protection of these gods, and the Mexicans believed that anyone born on that day was almost