he earth, it was
occasionally spoken of as _Tlillapa_, The Murky Land,[2] and allied
therefore to Mictlan. Caverns led down to it, especially one south of
Chapultepec, called _Cincalco_, "To the Abode of Abundance," through whose
gloomy corridors one could reach the habitation of the sun and the happy
land still governed by Quetzalcoatl and his lieutenant Totec.[3]

[Footnote 1: Sahagun, _Historia_, Lib. iii. cap. ult.]

[Footnote 2: Mendieta, _Hist. Eclesiast. Indiana_, Lib. ii, cap. v. The
name is from _tlilli_, something dark, obscure.]

[Footnote 3: Sahagun, _Historia_, Lib. xii, cap. ix; Duran, _Historia_,
cap. lxviii; Tezozomoc, _Cron. Mexicana_, cap. ciii. Sahagun and Tezozomoc
give the name _Cincalco_, To the House of Maize, _i.e._, Fertility,
Abundance, the Paradise. Duran gives _Cicalco_, and translates it "casa de
la liebre," _citli_, hare, _calli_, house, _co_ locative. But this is, no
doubt, an error, mistaking _citli_ for _cintli_, maize.]

But the real and proper names of that land were Tlapallan, the Red Land,
and Tizapan, the White Land, for either of these colors is that of the
sun-light.[1]

[Footnote 1: _Tizapan_ from _tizatl_, white earth or other substance, and
_pan_, in. Mendicta, Lib. ii, cap. iv.]

It was generally understood to be the same land whence he and the Toltecs
had come forth in ancient times; or if not actually the same,
nevertheless, very similar to it. While the myth refers to the latter as
Tlapallan, it speaks of the former as Huey Tlapallan, Old Tlapallan, or
the first Tlapallan. But Old Tlapallan was usually located to the West,
where the sun disappears at night;[1] while New Tlapallan, the goal of
Quetzalcoatl's journey, was in the East, where the day-orb rises in the
morning. The relationship is obvious, and is based on the similarity of
the morning and the evening skies, the heavens at sunset and at sunrise.

[Footnote 1: "Huitlapalan, que es la que al presente llaman de Cortes,
que por parecer vermeja le pusieron el nombre referido." Alva
Ixtlilxochitl, _Historia Chichimeca_, Cap. ii.]

In his capacity as master of arts, and, at the same time, ruler of the
underground realm, in other words, as representing in his absence the Sun
at night, he was supposed to preside over the schools where the youth were
shut up and severely trained in ascetic lives, previous to coming forth
into the world. In this function he was addressed as _Quetzalcoatl
Tlilpotonqui_, the Dark or Bl