one occasion the sun “drank up” all the water on earth and later disgorged it in floods. For the reason that he was regarded as existing on blood, the sun was thought of as the great patron of warriors, and has an intimate connection with both Uitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipocâ. But if we seek for evidence which would seem to exalt him above the greater gods in Mexico, and place him in a central and pre-eminent position in the pantheon, we will be disappointed. [316] At the same time we must recollect that the two deities just mentioned, and even Quetzalcoatl in a measure, possessed a solar connection, and in the offering of the hearts of all victims to his glowing face we may probably see a survival or a reminiscence from a period when he was perhaps the central figure in the pantheon of the Chichimec nomads. There is also plenty of evidence that the sun must be classed with Xiuhtecutli and the other gods of fire, as is shown by the great fire festival which took place every fifty-two years. But the lack of data regarding the sun as a personalized deity rather than a divine luminary places us at a disadvantage in attempting to assess his precise nature and status in the Mexican pantheon, and considerable research is required before this can be essayed with any degree of confidence. METZTLI = “THE MOON,” OR TECCIZTECATL = “HE FROM THE SEA-SNAIL” Symbol: Bone-surrounded disk set in the night-sky, containing a rabbit. Calendar Place: Ruler of the sixth day-count, miquiztli. Ruler of the sixth tonalamatl division, ce miquiztli. Ruler of the fifth night-hour. Compass Direction: South. ASPECT AND INSIGNIA Codex Borgia.—In this codex he is shown as a female, old, with the gobber tooth or lip contraction indicative of extreme age. He is painted yellow, the colour of women. The white of the clothing expresses the relatively dull hue of the luminary when compared with the sun. Codex Vaticanus B.—Here he is old and white-haired, and is pictured as a priest with the marine snail’s shell on his brow. The body-colour is blue, as is the face, on sheet 30, but on sheet 88, half-blue, half-red, as in the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer picture of Mixcoatl. On sheet 30 he is figured with a long beard and wears Xochipilli’s ornaments. Aubin Tonalamatl.—In this place he is represented by Tezcatlipocâ. Codex Fejérváry-Mayer.—Sheet 24: Here he is pictured as an old god with a long beard. The body-colour is blue, and the face half-blue, half-red, like that of Xolotl in the same MS. He wears the sea-snail shell on his fillet. MYTHS The principal myths relating to the origin of the Moon-god have already been given in the chapter on Cosmogony. The interpreter of the Codex Vaticanus A states that: