Sahagun [276] gives at great length a most striking prayer to Tlaloc made in time of drought by the priests in hope of rain. It asks for compassion from the Tlaloquê, who, along with their sister, Chalchiuhtlicue, have withdrawn their faces from mankind. It describes the wretchedness of the people, tells how they perish of thirst, and draws a harrowing picture of the sufferings of the children. It requests Tlaloc to assist the god of earth with rain, so that the vegetables and plants may grow and not perish. It also asks that the rain may be of the kind which assists growth, and that it be not accompanied by hail or lightning, the usual manifestation of the wrath of the Tlaloquê. “You who are gods of the water, who dwell at the east, west, north, and south of the world, who inhabit the subterranean places, the air, the mountains and the profound caverns, hasten to the consolation of man.” NATURE AND STATUS There is less doubt concerning the character of Tlaloc than that of any other Mexican deity. The representations of him in the manuscripts, the prayers offered up to him, the myths which seek to explain him, all make it clear that he is the god of the rain-cult par excellence, to whom even Quetzalcoatl, the deified rain-maker, in time becomes merely “a sweeper of the ways.” The etymological derivation of the name has been frequently essayed. Tlaloc, says Seler, is a noun derived from the verb tlaloa, “to hasten,” which in its reflexive sense means “to shoot up,” “to sprout,” so that the name really conveys the sense of “He who makes things sprout,” “He who hastens growth.” He is, indeed, the god of rain, of moisture, who dwells on the mountain peaks, and manifests himself in the lightning and the thunder, both of which are symbolized in the serpentine folds of his countenance and in its darksome hues. His progeny are the Tlaloquê, who dwell on every mountain top, dwarfish servants who pour forth the rain out of the great jars which stand in his courtyard. “When they beat these with the sticks they carry, it thunders, and when it lightens a piece of the jug falls.” [277] The name Tlaloc was specially given by the Mexicans to a mountain to the east of Tezcuco, near the pass which led to Huetzotzinco, and here it was that his most ancient idol was found by the immigrant tribes. The mountains Popocatepetl and Teocuinaui were also especially sacred to him. He possessed, as will have been observed, both beneficent and terrible aspects, and was the striker, the slayer, as well as the giver of bounteous food-supplies. That his cult was an ancient one in Mexico is proved by the numerous finds of his images among remains of pre-Aztec date at Teotihuacan, at Teotitlan in the Huaxtec country, at Quiengola in the Zapotec district, and at Quen Santo in Guatemala.