eity, as they had heretofore worshipped the Creator....
It is related that all his conquests were made in the name of the Sun, his
Father, and of the Creator. This Inca also commanded all the nations they
conquered to hold their huacas in great veneration...."

It is a startling but undeniable fact that one of the beautiful
bas-reliefs found at Santa Lucia Cozumalhuapa near the western coast of
Guatemala, about 1,200 miles to the north of the latitude of Cuzco,
answers in a most striking manner to the description given of Inca
Yupanqui's vision.(27)

Amongst the thirteen sculptured slabs discovered at Santa Lucia, there are
six entire slabs and the fragment of another which are of almost uniform
size and may be ranked among the finest examples of aboriginal art which
have as yet been found on the American Continent. They represent seven
different renderings of the same theme. On each slab an individual wearing
elaborate insignia is represented as standing with one arm raised and his
head thrown back in the act of gazing upwards towards a celestial figure
which seems to be descending towards him. The arms and heads of these
nobly conceived figures are visible, but in each case the faces seem to
issue from a highly ornate symbol, which is different in each one, just as
the insignia of each individual also varies in detail. At the same time it
is obvious that the seven slabs commemorate as it were an identical
circumstance,--the apparition of the same divinity to seven different
individuals, six of which are represented with the sign of speech coming
forth from their mouths in precisely the same manner. The general
resemblance, notwithstanding the distinct individuality of each
bas-relief, suggests that they commemorate the visions seen under similar
circumstances by seven distinct personages of the same rank and position.
Involuntarily one thinks of the period of enforced fast and vigil which
marks the attainment of manhood and is still obligatory amongst North
American tribes, amongst whom it only ends when they have entered into
communion with their totemic ancestor. I am inclined to view these
commemorative tablets as commemorating an analogous rite and perpetuating
the visions of successive members of one ruling family, or clan. The
divinity, invariably associated with serpent symbols, seems to be
Quetzalcoatl, the divine twin or serpent, exhibiting in some cases the
emblem of the Sun, but evidently revealing itself t