been preceded in America by two others named Igh and Imox, if the researches of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg can be relied upon. In the Tzendal calendar, Votan’s name appears as that of the third day, while Igh and Imox are the first and second respectively. If, as is supposed, the names represent the true succession of the Maya chiefs, there is some ground for the Abbé’s view.[309] The doubtful portions of the tradition which may be interpolations are the ambiguous assertions that he saw the Tower of Babel, and was present at the building of Solomon’s temple. Probably the remains only of the former structure may be referred to. With these contradictions we have nothing to do, as they do not in any way affect the subsequent history of the Votanites, or interfere with the probability of their old world origin. To attempt to designate the point from which Votan started or the means by which he reached the new world, would be the height of folly. Votan is said to have made four journeys to the land of his nativity. His achievements in the new world were, however, as great as those of any of the heroes of antiquity. His great city was named “Nachan,” (city of the serpents), from his own race, which was named Chan, a serpent. This Nachan is unquestionably identified with Palenque. The date of his journey is placed at 1000 years B. C.[310] The kingdom of the serpents flourished so rapidly that Votan founded three tributary monarchies whose capitals were Tulan, Mayapan, and Chiquimula.[311] The former is supposed to have been situated about two leagues east of the town of Ococingo; Mayapan is well-known to have been the capital of Yucatan, and Chiquimula is thought to have been Copan in Honduras.[312] One of the great works of this hero was the excavation of a tunnel or ‘snake hole’ from Zuqui to Tzequil. He also deposited a great treasure at Huehuetan, in Soconusco, which he left under the vigilant care of a guard, directed by one of the most honorable women of the land. Finally, he wrote a book in which he recorded his deeds and offered proof of his being a Chane (or serpent). This ancient document, which is claimed to have been written by one of Votan’s descendants, of the eighth or ninth generation and not by himself,[313] was in the Tzendal language, a dialect or branch of the Maya, spoken in Chiapas and around Palenque. Its history is, however, quite checkered, and the information which it contained comes very indirectly. For generations the Votanic document was scrupulously guarded by the people of Tacoaloya, in Soconusco, but was finally discovered by Francisco Nuñez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapas. In the preamble of his _Constituciones_, § xxx,[314] he claims to have read this document, but it is probable that only a copy, still in the Tzendal language but written in Latin characters, had come into his possession.[315] He fails to give any definite information from the document except the most general statements with