The English priest, Thomas Gage, who was curate of a parish among the Pokonchi Indians of Guatemala about 1630, relates his discovery of such a cave, in which the idol was preserved, and gives this description of it:
"We found the Idol standing upon a low stool covered with a linen cloth. The substance of it was wood, black shining like jet, as if it had been painted or smoked; the form was of a man's head unto the shoulders, without either Beard or Mustaches; his look was grim, with a wrinkled forehead, and broad staring eyes.
"They boasted of this their god, saying that he had plainly told them they should not believe anything I preached of Christ, but follow the old ways of their forefathers."[86]
The black color here mentioned was a relic of ancient symbolism, referring to the night, darkness: and the obscurity of the holy cavern. Vetancurt informs us that the priests of the ancient paganism were accustomed to rub their faces and bodies with an ointment of fat and pine soot when they went to sacrifice in the forests, so that they looked as black as negroes.[87] In the extract from Nuñez de la Vega already given, Ical Ahau, the "Black King," is named as one of the divinities of the nagualists.
In some parts the principal idol found in the caves was the mummied or exsiccated body of some former distinguished priest or chieftain. One such is recorded by Bartholomé de Pisa, which was found among the Zapotecs of Coatlan. It bore a name taken from the calendar, that of the tenth day, and was alleged to be the preserved cadaver of a celebrated ruler.[88] Another interesting example is narrated by Villa Señor y Sanchez,[89] who describes it as an eye-witness. It was discovered in a spacious cave located some distance to the west of the city of Mexico, in Nahuatl territory, on the side of what was known as "the Sun mountain"—la Mesa de Tonati. He speaks of it as remarkably well preserved, "both the muscles and the bones."
"It was seated in an armchair which served for a throne, and was clothed in a mantle, which fell from the shoulders to the feet. This was richly adorned with precious stones, which, according to the native custom, were sewed into the texture of the cloth. The figure also wore shoulder straps, collars, bracelets and fastenings of silver. From its forehead rose a crown of beautiful feathers of different colors arranged so that one color should alternate with another. The left hand was resting on the arm of the chair, while in the right was a sharp cutlass with silver mountings. At its feet were several vases of fine stone, as marble and alabaster, in which were offerings of blood and meat, obtained from the sacrifices."
The same writer refers to other examples of these sacred caves which he had seen in his journeys. One was near the town of Teremendo, where the sides and roof had been artificially dressed into the shape of huge arches. A natural altar had been provided in a similar manner, and on it, at the time of his visit, were numerous idols in the figures of men and animals, and before them fresh offerings of copal and food. Elsewhere he refers to many such caverns still in use as places resorted to by the natives in la gran Sierra de Tlascala.[90]
These extracts prove the extent of this peculiar worship and the number of these subterranean temples in recent generations. The fame of some of the greater ones of the past still survives, as the vast grotto of Chalcatongo, near Achiutla, which was the sepulchral vault of its ancient kings; that of Totomachiapa, a solemn scene of sacrifice for the ancient priests; that of Justlahuaca, near
[86] Gage. A New Survey of the West Indies, pp. 339, 393.
[87] Teatro Mexicano , Tratado iii, cap. 11. Mr. Bandelier has called attention to the naming of one of the principal chiefs among the Aztecs, Tlilancalqui, "Man of the Dark House," and thinks it related to the Votan myth. Twelfth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum, p. 680.
[88] Herrera, Historia de las Indias Occidentales, Dec. iii, Lib. iii, cap. 14.
[89] Villa Señor, Teatro Americano, Lib. v, cap. 38 (Mexico, 1747). Father Cavo adds that there were signs of human sacrifices present, but of this I can find no evidence in the earlier reports. Comp. Cavo, Los Tres Siglos de Mexico durante de Gobieno Español, Tom. ii, p. 128.
[90] Teatro Americano , Lib. ii, cap. 11; Lib. iii, cap. 13.
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