regions is singularly compensated for by the stars of the equatorial zone.
It seems more than probable that primitive astronomers or their
descendants, who had been reared in a knowledge of the northern Polaris
and of the periodical motion of the circumpolar constellations, should
continue their observations in whatever latitude they found themselves. It
seems possible that they may have observed the Southern Cross and
recognized its closeness to the pivot or centre of rotation; but from
personal experience and observation I can vouch for the fact that this
constellation could never have produced upon primitive man the powerful
impression caused by Ursa Major and Cassiopeia revolving around Polaris.
It is, of course, impossible to conclude to what extent the ancient
Peruvians revered the Southern Cross. It suffices for the present to
establish the incontrovertible facts that the image of the motionless
Creator, set up by the Incas, was associated with stars and with the cross
and that the door of the Cuzco Temple, where this image was kept, faced
the north, the direction whence, according to native traditions, the
culture-heroes had come to Peru.

The following data furnish further important proof that certain peculiar
ideas, symbols and metaphors were held in common by the civilizations of
Peru, Central America and Mexico. Returning to the bas-relief (fig. 47), I
recur to an interesting feature, which I have already pointed out, namely,
that the left arm of the personage terminates in a tiger's or puma's head.
In connection with this peculiarity it is interesting to note that the
native historian Ixtlilxochitl cites his illustrious ancestor and
namesake, the Ome Tochtli Ixtlilxochitl of Texcoco, as addressing his
young son Nezalhualcoyotl as "my dearly beloved son, tiger's arm."(36) As
the young prince is referred to in the same chapter as "the boy Acolmiztli
[=tiger's arm] Nezalhualcoyotl," it is obvious that the metaphor
constituted a title preceding the actual name. It was Nezalhual-coyotl who
instituted the worship of Tloquenahuaque, the true Creator, and
discountenanced human sacrifices.

If the other analogous Santa Lucia slabs be also examined it will be seen
that although the positions of the bodies and arms vary, and the form of
the head is different in each instance, it is invariably the left arm that
terminates in the individual emblem. This sort of consecration of the left
hand seems particularly significan