s, it was an
appropriate attribute of the ruler of the winds. But we have already
seen that the winds were often spoken of as great birds. Hence the union
of these two emblems in such names as Quetzalcoatl, Gucumatz, Kukulkan,
all titles of the god of the air in the languages of Central America,
all signifying the "Bird-serpent." Here also we see the solution of that
monument which has so puzzled American antiquaries, the cross at
Palenque. It is a tablet on the wall of an altar representing a cross
surmounted by a bird and supported by the head of a serpent. The latter
is not well defined in the plate in Mr. Stephens' Travels, but is very
distinct in the photographs taken by M. Charnay, which that gentleman
was kind enough to show me. The cross I have previously shown was the
symbol of the four winds, and the bird and serpent are simply the rebus
of the air god, their ruler.[119-1] Quetzalcoatl, called also Yolcuat,
the rattlesnake, was no less intimately associated with serpents than
with birds. The entrance to his temple at Mexico represented the jaws of
one of these reptiles, and he finally disappeared in the province of
Coatzacoalco, the hiding place of the serpent, sailing towards the east
in a bark of serpents' skins. All this refers to his power over the
lightning serpent.

He was also said to be the god of riches and the patron consequently of
merchants. For with the summer lightning come the harvest and the
ripening fruits, come riches and traffic. Moreover "the golden color of
the liquid fire," as Lucretius expresses it, naturally led where this
metal was known, to its being deemed the product of the lightning. Thus
originated many of those tales of a dragon who watches a treasure in the
earth, and of a serpent who is the dispenser of riches, such as were
found among the Greeks and ancient Germans.[119-2] So it was in Peru
where the god of riches was worshipped under the image of a rattlesnake
horned and hairy, with a tail of gold. It was said to have descended
from the heavens in the sight of all the people, and to have been seen
by the whole army of the Inca.[119-3] Whether it was in reference to
it, or as emblems of their prowess, that the Incas themselves chose as
their arms two serpents with their tails interlaced, is uncertain;
possibly one for each of these significations.

Because the rattlesnake, the lightning serpent, is thus connected with
the food of man, and itself seems never to die but annuall