The Hades of the Aztec race was Mictlampa, presided over by Mictlantecutli (Lord of Mictlampa) and his spouse (Mictecaciuatl). The souls of the defunct who fared thither were those who died of disease, chiefs, great personages, or humbler folk. On the day of death the priest harangued the deceased, telling him that he was about to go to a region “where there is neither light nor window,” and where all was shadow, a veritable land of gloom, the passage to which swarmed with grisly forms inimical to the soul. It was a vast, trackless, and gloomy desert, having nine divisions, of which the last, Chiconahuimictlan, was the abode of the lord of the place. Rank and privilege would appear to have been maintained even in this dark realm, although all offerings to the dead must first be inspected by Mictlantecutli himself ere being passed on to their proper owners. Sahagun states that four years were occupied in journeying to Mictlampa, evidently an error for four days, as elsewhere he says that the former period was spent within the regions of the dead. The journey thence was replete with terrors. Says the interpreter of the Codex Vaticanus A: “In this region of hell they supposed that there existed four gods, or principal demons, one of whom was superior, whom they called Zitzimatl, who is the same as Miquitlamtecotl, the great god of hell. Yzpuzteque, the lame demon, was he who appeared in the streets with the feet of a cock. Nextepehua was the scatterer of ashes, Contemoque signifies he who descends headforemost; an allusion being made to the etymology which learned men assign to the name of the Devil, which signifies deorsum cadens, which mode of descent after souls they attribute to him from this name and Zon. Yzpuzteque is he whose abode is in the streets, the same as Satan, he who on a sudden appears sideways. It appears that they have been acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, although clearer arguments in proof of this fact are adduced in the course of the following pages. They say that these four gods or demons have goddesses.”