em. It repeatedly recurs in Sanskrit, in Greek and in
Teutonic mythology, as has been ably pointed out by Dr. Hermann
Cohen.[45-[++]] The fire-god Agni (_ignis_) is in the Vedas the Maker of
men; Prometheus steals the fire from heaven that he may with it animate
the human forms he has moulded of clay; even the connection of the
pulque with the fire is paralleled in Greek mythos, where Dionysos is
called _Pyrigenes_, the "fire-born."

Among the ancient Aztecs the god of fire was called the oldest of gods,
_Huehueteotl_, and also "Our Father," _Tota_, as it was believed from
him all things were derived.[46-*] Both among them and the Mayas, as I
have pointed out in a previous work, he was supposed to govern the
generative proclivities and the sexual relations.[46-[+]] Another of his
names was _Xiuhtecutli_, which can be translated "God of the Green
Leaf," that is, of vegetable fecundity and productiveness.[46-[++]]

To transform themselves into a globe or ball of fire was, as we have
seen (ante, p. 21), a power claimed by expert nagualists, and to handle
it with impunity, or to blow it from the mouth, was one of their
commonest exhibitions. Nothing so much proved their superiority as thus
to master this potent element.

=30.= The same name above referred to, "the Heart of the Town," or "of the
Hills," was that which at a comparatively late date was applied to an
idol of green stone preserved with religious care in a cavern in the
Cerro de Monopostiac, not far from San Francisco del Mar. The spot is
still believed by the natives to be enchanted ground and protected by
superhuman powers.[46-Sec.]

These green stones, called _chalchiuitl_, of jadeite, nephrite, green
quartz, or the like, were accounted of peculiar religious significance
throughout southern Mexico, and probably to this day many are preserved
among the indigenous population as amulets and charms. They were often
carved into images, either in human form or representing a frog, the
latter apparently the symbol of the waters and of fertility. Bartholome
de Alva refers to them in a passage of his Confessionary. The priest
asks the penitent:

"Dost thou possess at this very time little idols of green stone,
or frogs made of it (_in chalchiuh coconeme, chalchiuh
tamazoltin_)?

"Dost thou put them out in the sun to be warmed? Dost thou keep
them wrapped in cotton coverings, with great respect and
veneration?

"Dost thou be