[163] Sahagun, _Historia_, Lib. X, cap. 29. The name is properly _Tarex_, applied later in the general sense of “deity,” “idol.” Tarex is identified by Sahagun with the Nahuatl divinity Mixcoatl, the god of the storm, especially the thunder storm. The other derivations of the name Tarascos seem trivial. See Dr. Nicolas Leon, in _Anales del Museo Michoacano_, Tom. I. Their ancestors were known as Taruchas, in which we see the same radical. [164] Dr. Nicolas Leon, of Morelia, Michoacan, whose studies of the archæology of his State have been most praiseworthy, places the beginning of the dynasty at 1200; _Anales del Museo Michoacano_, Tom. I., p. 116. [165] From the Nahuatl, _yacatl_, point, apex, nose; though other derivations have been suggested. [166] For numerous authorities, see Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific Coast_, vol. II., pp. 407-8; and on the antiquities of the country, Dr. Leon, in the _Anales del Museo Michoacano_, passim, and Beaumont, _Cronica de la Provincia de Mechoacan_, Tom. III., p. 87, sq. (Mexico, 1874). [167] Sahagun, _Historia de la Nueva España_, Lib. X., cap. 6. [168] Herrera, _Historia de las Indias Occidentales_, Dec. II., Lib. V., cap. 8. [169] Strebel, _Alt-Mexiko_. [170] Pimentel, _Lenguas Indigenas de Mexico_, Tom. III., p. 345, sq. [171] From _didja_, language, _za_, the national name. [172] Mr. A. Bandelier, in his careful description of these ruins _(Report of an Archæological Tour in Mexico_, Boston, 1884) spells this Lyo-ba. But an extensive _MS. Vocabulario Zapoteco_ in my possession gives the orthography _riyoo baa_. [173] Garcia, _Origen de los Indios_, Lib. V., cap. IV., gives a lengthy extract from one of their hieroglyphic mythological books. [174] Sahagun, _Historia de la Nueva España_, Lib. X., cap. VI. [175] Herrera, _Historia de las Indias Occidentales_. Dec. IV., Lib. X., cap. 7. [176] _Explorations and Surveys of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec_, pp. 126-7. (Washington, 1872.) [177] J. G. Barnard, _The Isthmus of Tehuantepec_, pp. 224, 225. (New York, 1853.) [178] _Apuntes sobre la Lengua Chinanteca, MS._ [179] Herrera, _Hist. de las Indias Occidentales_. Dec. III., Lib. III., cap. 15. [180] Herrera, _Historia de las Indias Occidentales_. Dec. IV., Lib. X., cap. 11. [181] Gregoria Garcia, _Origen de los Indios_, Lib. V., cap. v. [182] Oviedo, _Historia General de las Indias_, Lib. XLII., cap. 5. [183] Peralta, _Costa Rica, Nicaragua y Panama, en el Siglo XVI_, p. 777. (Madrid, 1883.) [184] Lucien Adam, _La Langue Chiàpanéque_ (Vienna, 1887); Fr. Müller, _Grundriss der Sprachwissenschaft_, Bd. IV., Abt. I. s. 177. [185] _Anales del Ministerio de Fomento_, p. 98. (Mexico, 1881.) [186] Beristain y Souza, _Biblioteca Hispano-Americana Septentrional_, Tomo I., p. 438. [187] For example: