f the present country of Mexico.

These traditions receive additional importance from the presence on the
shores of the Mexican Gulf, on the waters of the river Panuco, north of
Vera Cruz, of a prominent branch of the Maya family, the _Huastecs_. The
idea suggests itself that these were the rearguard of a great migration
of the Maya family from the north toward the south.

Support is given to this by their dialect, which is most closely akin to
that of the Tzendals of Tabasco, the nearest Maya race to the south of
them, and also by very ancient traditions of the Aztecs.

It is noteworthy that these two partially civilized races, the Mayas and
the Aztecs, though differing radically in language, had legends which
claimed a community of origin in some indefinitely remote past. We find
these on the Maya side narrated in the sacred book of the Kiches, the
_Popol Vuh_, in the Cakchiquel _Records of Tecpan Atitlan_, and in
various pure Maya sources which I bring forward in this volume. The
Aztec traditions refer to the Huastecs, and a brief analysis of them
will not be out of place.

At a very remote period the Mexicans, under their leader Mecitl, from
whom they took their name, arrived in boats at the mouth of the river
Panuco, at the place called Panotlan, which name means "where one
arrives by sea." With them were the Olmecs under their leader Olmecatl,
the Huastecs, under their leader Huastecatl, the Mixtecs and others.
They journeyed together and in friendship southward, down the coast,
quite to the volcanoes of Guatemala, thence to Tamoanchan, which is
described as the terrestial[TN-1] paradise, and afterwards, some of them
at least, northward and eastward, toward the shores of the Gulf.

On this journey the intoxicating beverage made from the maguey, called
_octli_ by the Aztecs, _cii_ by the Mayas, and _pulque_ by the
Spaniards, was invented by a woman whose name was _Mayauel_, in which we
can scarcely err in recognizing the national appellation _Maya_.[23-1]
Furthermore, the invention is closely related to the history of the
Huastecs. Their leader, alone of all the chieftains, drank to excess,
and in his drunkenness threw aside his garments and displayed his
nakedness. When he grew sober, fear and shame impelled him to collect
all those who spoke his language, and leaving the other tribes, he
returned to the neighborhood of Panuco and settled there
permanently.[23-2]

The annals of the Aztecs contain frequent al