[139-1] Chantico, according to Gama, means "Wolf's Head," though I cannot verify this from the vocabularies within my reach. He is sometimes called Cohuaxolotl Chantico, the snake-servant Chantico, considered by Gama as one, by Torquemada as two deities (see Gama, _Des. de las dos Piedras_, etc., i. p. 12; ii. p. 66). The English word _cantico_ in the phrase, for instance, "to cut a cantico," though an Indian word, is not from this, but from the Algonkin Delaware _gentkehn_, to dance a sacred dance. The Dutch describe it as "a religious custom observed among them before death" (_Doc. Hist. of New York_, iv. p. 63). William Penn says of the Lenape, "their worship consists of two parts, sacrifice and cantico," the latter "performed by round dances, sometimes words, sometimes songs, then shouts; their postures very antic and differing." (_Letter to the Free Society of Traders_, 1683, sec. 21.) [139-2] Charlevoix, _Hist. Gén. de la Nouv. France_, i. p. 394: Paris, 1740. On the different species of dogs indigenous to America, see a note of Alex. von Humboldt, _Ansichten der Natur._, i. p. 134. It may be noticed that Chichimec, properly Chichimecatl, the name of the Aztec tribe who succeeded the ancient Toltecs in Mexico, means literally "people of the dog," and was probably derived from some mythological fable connected with that animal. [140-1] _Narr. of the Captiv. of John Tanner_, p. 362. From the word for fire in many American tongues is formed the adjective _red_. Thus, Algonkin, _skoda_, fire, _miskoda_, red; Kolosch, _kan_, fire, _kan_, red; Ugalentz, _takak_, fire, _takak-uete_, red; Tahkali, _cūn_, fire, _tenil-cūn_, red; Quiche, _cak_, fire, _cak_, red, etc. From the adjective _red_ comes often the word for _blood_, and in symbolism the color red may refer to either of these ideas. It was the royal color of the Incas, brothers of the sun, and a llama swathed in a red garment was the Peruvian sacrifice to fire (Garcia, _Or. de los Indios_, lib. iv. caps. 16, 19). On the other hand the war quipus, the war wampum, and the war paint were all of this hue, boding their sanguinary significance. The word for fire in the language of the Delawares, Nanticokes, and neighboring tribes puzzles me. It is _taenda_ or _tinda_. This is the Swedish word _taenda_, from whose root comes our _tinder_. Yet it is found in vocabularies as early as 1650, and is universally current to-day. It has no resemblance to the word for fire in pure Algonkin. Was it adopted from the Swedes? Was it introduced by wandering Vikings in remote centuries? Or is it only a coincidence? [141-1] Compare D'Orbigny, _L'Homme Américain_, i. p. 243, Müller, _Amer. Urreligionen_, p. 51, and Squier, _Serpent Symbol in America_, p. 111. This is a striking instance of the confusion of ideas introduced by false systems of study, and also of the considerable misapprehension of American mythology which has hitherto prevailed.