g to
find, in both countries, the name of _serpent_ bestowed as a title upon a
supreme, celestial embodiment of the forces of nature and its image
employed to express this association in objective form. In Yucatan one of
the surnames of Itzamna, the supreme divinity, was Canil, a name clearly
related to _caanlil_=divine and _can_=serpent.

In Mexico the duality and generative force implied by the word "coatl" are
clearly recognizable in the native invocations addressed to "Our lord
Quetzalcoatl the Creator and Maker or Former, who dwells in heaven and is
the lord of the earth [Tlaltecuhtli]; who is our celestial father and
mother, great lord and great lady, whose title is Ome-Tecuhtli [literally,
two-lord=twin lord] and Ome-Cihuatl [literally, two-lady=twin lady"]
(Sahagun, book VI, chaps. 25, 32 and 34).

The following data will suffice to render it quite clear that the Mexicans
and Mayas employed the serpent as an expressive symbol merely, signifying
the generative force of the Creator to whom alone they rendered homage. It
is no less an authority than Friar Bartholomew de las Casas who maintained
that "in many parts of the [American] Continent, the natives had a
particular knowledge of the true God; they believed that He created the
Universe and was its Lord and governed it. And it was to Him they
addressed their sacrifices, their cult and homage, in their
necessities..." (Historia Apologetica, chap. 121).

Friar Bartholomew specially adds that this was the case in Mexico
according to the authority of Spanish missionaries and no one can doubt
that this was the case when they read that in the native invocations,
preserved by Sahagun, the supreme divinity is described as "invisible and
intangible, like the air, like the darkness of night," or as the "lord who
is always present in all places, who is [as impenetrable as] an abyss, who
is named the wind [air or breath] and the night." "All things obey him,
the order of the universe depends upon his will--he is the creator,
sustainer, the omnipotent and omniscient." He is termed "the father and
mother of all," "the great god and the great goddess," "our lord and
protector who is most powerful and most humane,"--"our lord in whose power
it is to bestow all contentment, sweetness, happiness, wealth and
prosperity, because thou alone art the lord of all things." One prayer
concludes thus: "Live and reign forever in all peace and repose thou who
art our lord, our shelter, ou