tainly not to be identified with Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl, who was essentially a god of peace, averse to human sacrifice. Among the hunting peoples, as can be seen especially from a study of the Tarascan tribes, the morning star was a war-god, while the association of Quetzalcoatl with this planet was due to the fact that it was the regulator of the solar calendar as explained subsequently. In the second legend the promise of the god to return in a year ce acatl had very far-reaching effects. Quetzalcoatl was regarded as white and bearded, and the arrival of the Spaniards in a year bearing this date seemed to the Mexicans to possess a religious sanction which proved of inestimable service to the invaders. Indeed, but for this legend it is more than doubtful whether the almost incredible exploit of Cortés would have been successful. Quetzalcoatl is usually shown with black paint, the priestly colour, and wearing a pointed head-dress of the form associated with the Huaxtec, and hook-shaped ear pendants. As Eecatl the wind-god he bears a mask with a long snout, and a spirally marked shell breast-ornament, typifying the eddies of the wind (Fig. 4, d). In this capacity he was associated with the rain-gods, for whom he was said to sweep the road, and in one place he is given the same title as Tezcatlipoca, Yoalli Eecatl, the night-wind. As a god of ceremonial purification he is generally shown with the bone implement for piercing the ears, sometimes stuck in his head-dress, and, as a patron of education, children were presented to him at the public school or Calmecac. His legendary connection with Tezcatlipoca is interesting. In one myth the two are mentioned as creating-gods, who raised the heavens after they had fallen upon the earth at the end of the last mythical period. In another they are shown as foes, and it is Tezcatlipoca who by his machinations drives Quetzalcoatl from Tulan. The latter story probably represents the retirement of the Toltec before the
