r would they
institute him again as their lord, so he went away again toward the east,
whence he had come." It seems nearly proven that Kukulcan was one of the
three rulers who came to Yucatan from the east. The Mexican tradition that
he was driven into exile by his enemies, the followers of Tezcatlipoca,
the lord of the Below, appears to be corroborated by the Maya record that,
after his restraining presence had been removed, they committed such
excesses that the indignant population arose and murdered their two rulers
at Chichen-Itza. Quetzalcoatl's continued efforts to assemble scattered
tribes, to organize them peacefully under central governments, to found
capitals and erect in the centre of these quadriform pyramids and circular
temples, prove how completely he was possessed by the idea of spreading
the well-known scheme of civilization. His very name in Maya signified
"the divine Four" and this more profound signification was hidden under
the image of the "feathered serpent" employed as a rebus to express the
title of the supreme Being and the high-priest, his earthly
representative.

The Mexican records state that the culture-hero's white robes were covered
with red crosses, and that he set up cross-emblems. Evidence showing how
completely this builder and founder of cities carried out the idea of the
Four Quarters, in the temples he erected in Mexico, is preserved by the
record that for prayer, penitence and fasting, he prepared four rooms
which he occupied in rotation. These were respectively decorated in blue,
green, red and yellow, by means of precious stones, feather-work and gold.
As these were the colors assigned to the Four Quarters their symbolism and
meaning are obvious, and it may be inferred that the same method of
decorating the sides of buildings or doorways, with these four colors, may
have been carried out in square sacred edifices oriented to the cardinal
points.

It is curious to detect the quadruplicate idea in the title Holcan given
to certain war-chiefs. This name signifies, literally, "the head of four,"
but could be expressed by the rebus of a "serpent's head," which would
obviously have been employed in pictography to express the title and rank.
The existence of the title "Four-head," or "the head of four," obviously
relates to the rulership of the Four Quarters, united in one person; and
in this connection the Tiahuanaco swastika (fig. 48), terminating in four
pumas' heads, seems to gai