nts.
From the blow come
Thunder, lightning,
Strokes of lightning.
And thou, princess,
Tak'st the water,
With it rainest,
And the hail, or
Snow dispensest.
Viracocha,
World constructor,
World enliv'ner,
To this office
Thee appointed,
Thee created."[155-1]

In this pretty waif that has floated down to us from the wreck of a
literature now forever lost, there is more than one point to attract the
notice of the antiquary. He may find in it a hint to decipher those
names of divinities so common in Peruvian legends, Contici and Illatici.
Both mean "the Thunder Vase," and both doubtless refer to the conception
here displayed of the phenomena of the thunder-storm.[155-2]

Again, twice in this poem is the triple nature of the storm adverted to.
This is observable in many of the religions of America. It constitutes a
sort of Trinity, not in any point resembling that of Christianity, nor
yet the Trimurti of India, but the only one in the New World the least
degree authenticated, and which, as half seen by ignorant monks, has
caused its due amount of sterile astonishment. Thus, in the Quiche
legends we read: "The first of Hurakan is the lightning, the second the
track of the lightning, and the third the stroke of the lightning; and
these three are Hurakan, the Heart of the Sky."[156-1] It reappears with
characteristic uniformity of outline in Iroquois mythology. Heno, the
thunder, gathers the clouds and pours out the warm rains. Therefore he
was the patron of husbandry. He was invoked at seed time and harvest;
and as purveyor of nourishment he was addressed as grandfather, and his
worshippers styled themselves his grandchildren. He rode through the
heavens on the clouds, and the thunderbolts which split the forest trees
were the stones he hurled at his enemies. _Three_ assistants were
assigned him, whose names have unfortunately not been recorded, and
whose offices were apparently similar to those of the three companions
of Hurakan.[156-2]

So also the Aztecs supposed that Tlaloc, god of rains and the waters,
ruler of the terrestrial paradise and the season of summer, manifested
himself under the three attributes of the flash, the thunderbolt, and
the thunder.[157-1]

But this conception of three in one was above the comprehension of the
masses, and consequently these deities were also spoken of as fourfold
in nature, three _and_ one. Moreover, as has already been