I have chosen The Gods of Mexico as the title of this book, as its contents refer more particularly to the development and general description of the deities of ancient Anahuac than to the questions of ritual, priesthood, or religious architecture. It has seemed to me that, once the fundamental nature of the gods has been made clear, when the multitudinous and conflicting details regarding them have been sifted, collated, and reduced to order, more will have been done to discover the whole purport of Mexican religion than if investigation had been directed in particular to ritual practice. But that I have not neglected the question of ritual is proved by the extended notices of the festivals I have appended to the description of each of the gods. I have, however, confined my descriptions and criticisms of ceremonial to these, and have refrained from the illustration of the sacraments of life and death, baptism, burial, and the like, as it is my hope to be able to deal with the whole subject of ritualistic practice among the Mexicans at a future date. Many authorities, even should they sympathize with the endeavour set forth in these pages, will question its timeousness. Our knowledge of the religion of ancient Mexico, they will say, is still too vague and too fragmentary to permit of the assemblage and criticism of its material. Such a charge it is impossible to gainsay. Yet the bitter-sweet experience of twenty years of meditation among the ruins of the Mexican pantheon has emboldened me to attempt its partial restoration by the aid of such reconstructive capacity as I possess. My reasons for essaying this rather adventurous undertaking are twofold. The first is, that although the time is scarcely ripe for it, the venture may inspire more skilful investigators to address themselves to the task of research in a subject that has been unaccountably neglected in this country. The second is the hope that those who come after me in the study of Mexican religion may, as the result of my labours, be spared the many weary years of groping that have fallen to my lot, and be enabled to commence their journey from the point where I now stand.