In its second or historical portion the codex states that Quetzalcoatl discovered maize which was concealed in the mountain Tonacatepetl. Many of the gods searched for it, but Quetzalcoatl, taking the form of a black ant, was guided to the spot by a red ant. As he was unable to lift the mountain, it was split open by the magical prowess of Xolotl in his manifestation of Nanahuatl, and the maize became the spoil of Quetzalcoatl. But it was stolen from him by Tlaloc, the rain-god proper, perhaps an allegorical manner of alluding to the more direct influence of that deity upon growth. Other myths relating to Quetzalcoatl, chiefly as a creative agency, will be found in the précis of the opening chapters of the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas, in the chapter on Cosmogony. In Codex Borgia we find a passage (sheets 35–46) which appears to refer to the progress of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipocâ through the infernal regions, and which might be described as the Mexican “Harrying of Hell.” On this passage Seler has briefly commented (see his Commentary on Codex Vaticanus B, p. 119). CENTRAL AMERICAN MYTHS RELATING TO QUETZALCOATL Quetzalcoatl is, perhaps, singular among the deities of Mexico in that a number of well-authenticated Central American myths cluster around his name in its forms of Kukulcan, Gucumatz, and Votan. Certain of these must be considered here, for purposes of comparison and analogy. Nuñez de la Vega: A book in the Quiche tongue, said to have been written by Votan, a local name for Quetzalcoatl, was at one time in the possession of Nuñez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapas, who included portions of it in his Constituciones Diocesianos de Chiapas, but nevertheless destroyed it in his holocaust of MSS. at Heuheutlan in 1691. Ordoñez de Aguilar had, however, made a copy of it before its destruction, and incorporated it in his Historia de Cielo MS. In this work Votan declared himself “a snake,” a descendant of Imos, of the line of Chan [159] of the race of Chivim. Taking Aguilar’s account along with that of Nuñez de la Vega, as both rely upon the same authority, we find that Votan proceeded to America by divine command, his mission being to lay the foundation of civilization. With this object in view he departed from Valum Chivim, [160] passing the dwelling of the thirteen snakes, and arrived in Valum Votan, whence, with some members of his family, he set out to form a settlement, ascending the Usumacinta River and ultimately founding Palenque. By reason of their peculiar dress the Tzendal Indians called them Tzequitles, or “men with shirts,” but consented to amalgamate with them. Ordoñez states that when Votan had established himself at Palenque he made several visits to his original home. On one of these he came to a tower which had been intended to reach the heavens, a project which had been brought to naught by the linguistic confusion of those who conceived it. Finally he was permitted to reach “the rock of