In his interpretation of this goddess in his work on the Aubin-Goupil tonalamatl (pp. 118–119) Seler gives it as his opinion that the insignia of the goddess Tonacaciuatl, consort of the creative deity Tonacatecutli, is identical with that of Xochiquetzal, and proceeds to say that this strongly suggests “that the home of the cosmogonic speculations embodied in the names of Tonacatecutli and Tonacaciuatl was to be sought in the region where dwelt the goddess Xochiquetzal, and this was assuredly not Mexico proper, but appears to have been the group which in one place is comprised by Torquemada under the name Chalmeca, Olmeca, Xicalanca, Tepaneca, Xochimilca, and Tlalhuica. Here by Chalmeca are to be understood the dwellers about the volcano, and by Olmeca, Xicalanca, the aborigines of the Tlaxcallan district.... Originally the goddess Xochiquetzal is perhaps nothing more than the deity of one of those mountains from which the life-giving waters flow down from the fields.” It is easy to believe that Xochiquetzal is a variant of Tonacaciuatl; but it is not necessary to infer therefrom that the Olmec-Tlaxcaltec version of the myth relating to her with its cosmogonic speculations was prior in origin to that which found acceptance at Mexico, even although the Olmecs were regarded as an older race. Tonacatecutli and his consort were believed to be Toltec deities, and had thus a greater antiquity behind them than Olmec myth could invest them with. Codex Vaticanus A tells much the same story regarding Ixnextli and was probably inspired from the same source. MEXICAN CONCEPTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE No definite account of the Mexican conception of the universe has come down to us, but we are probably founding correctly if we accept the Maya belief as closely approximating to that in general currency in Mexico. An examination of the central design in the Maya Book of Chilan Balam of Mani, given in Cogolludo’s History of Yucatan (1640), shows the earth as a cubical block, by which term it is practically described in the Popol Vuh (“the quadrated castle, four-pointed, four-sided, four-bordered”). This the Maya described as tem (“the altar”), that is, the altar of the gods, the offering upon which was life. Above this cube on four legs is the celestial vase (cum) containing the heavenly waters, rains, and showers, upon which all life depends. Above it hang the rain-clouds which fill it and from it springs the vax che, or Tree of Life, with outspread branches. A similar illustration from the Codex Cortesiano, [69] a Maya MS. which has been described as the “Tableau of the Bacabs” or heavenly supporters, shows the Tree of Life, the Celestial Vase, and the cloud masses. Beneath the tree are seen the two creative deities, and the whole design is surrounded by the twenty day-signs. THE FIVE REGIONS OF THE WORLD