Its inhabitants spoke the Nahuatl tongue, but were never subject to the Montezumas.

Their chief god was Tezcatlipoca, and it was said of him that on one occasion he slew Ometochtli (Two Rabbits), the god of wine, at the latter's own request, he believing that he thus would be rendered immortal, and that all others who drank of the beverage he presided over would die.

His death, they added, was indeed like the stupor of a drunkard, who, after his lethargy has passed, rises healthy and well.

In this sense of renewing life after death, he presided over the native calendar, the count of years beginning with Tochtli, the Rabbit.[1] Thus we see that this is a myth of the returning seasons, and of nature waking to life again after the cold months ushered in by the chill rains of the late autumn.

The principle of fertility is alone perennial, while each individual must perish and die.
The God of Wine in Mexico, as in Greece, is one with the mysterious force of reproduction.
[Footnote 1: Gabriel de Chaves, _Relacion de la Provincia de Meztitlan_, 1556, in the _Colecion de Documentos Ineditos del Archivo de Indias_, Tom.
iv, p.